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ci^ORYTELLI 

TEACHERS OF BEGINNERS 
AND PRIMARY CHILDREN 




KATHERINE DUNLAP CATHER 




Class J I 

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



STORY TELLING 

FOR TEACHERS OF BEGINNERS 
AND PRIMARY CHILDREN 



By 
KATHERINE DUNLAP GATHER 



A Textbook in the Standard Course in Teacher 
Training, outlined and approved by the Sunday 
School Council of Evangelical Denominations. 

THIRD YEAR SPECIALIZATION SERIES 



Printed for 

THE TEACHER TRAINING PUBLISHING 

ASSOCIATION 

by 

THE CAXTON PRESS 

NEW YORK 



.&3 



Copyright, 192 1, by 
KATHERINE DUNLAP CATHER 



OCT 26 1921 



Printed in the United States of America 

g)CI.A630004 

-Vu? / 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAGE 

Introduction 5 

I. What Stories Really Are 11 

II. The Story-Teller's General Preparation 27 

III. The Story-Teller's Specific Preparation 51 

IV. The Story-Teller's Attitude 64 

V. How to Tell the Story 73 

VI. Practice in Condensation 85 

VII. Practice in Elaboration 97 

VIII. Practice in Beginnings, Climaxes, and Endings 112 

IX. Practice in the Development of a Specific 

Truth 126 

X. The Child's Use of Stories 135 



EDITOR'S INTRODUCTION 

SPECIALIZATION COURSES IN TEACHER 

TRAINING 

In religious education, as in other fields of con- 
structive endeavor, specialized training is today a 
badge of fitness for service. Effective leadership pre- 
supposes special training. For teachers and adminis- 
trative officers in the Church school a thorough 
preparation and proper personal equipment have be- 
come indispensable by reason of the rapid develop- 
ment of the Sunday-school curriculum, which has 
resulted in the widespread introduction and use of 
graded courses, in the rapid extension of departmental 
organization and in greatly improved methods of 
teaching. 

Present-day standards and courses in teacher train- 
ing give evidence of a determination on the part of 
the religious educational forces of North America to 
provide an adequate training literature, that is, prop- 
erly graded and sufficiently thorough courses and text- 
books to meet the growing need for specialized train- 
ing in this field. Popular as well as professional 
interest in the matter is reflected in the constantly 
increasing number of training institutes, community 
and summer training schools, and college chairs and 
departments of religious education. Hundreds of 
thousands of young people and adults, distributed 

5 



> 



6 INTRODUCTION 

among all the Protestant Evangelical churches and 
throughout every state and province, are engaged in 
serious study, in many cases including supervised 
practice teaching, with a view to preparing for service 
as leaders and teachers of religion or of increasing 
their efficiency in the work in which they are already 
engaged. 

Most of these students and student teachers are 
pursuing some portion of the Standard Course of 
Teacher Training prepared in outline by the Sunday 
School Council of Evangelical Denominations for all 
the Protestant churches in the United States and 
Canada. This course calls for a minimum of one 
hundred and twenty lesson periods including in fair 
educational proportion the following subjects: 

(a) A survey of Bible material, with special ref- 
erence to the teaching values of the Bible as 
meeting the needs of the pupil in successive 
periods of his development. 

(b) A study of the pupil in the varied stages of 
his growing life. 

(c) The work and methods of the teacher. 

(d) The Sunday school and its organization and 
management. 

The course is intended to cover three years with 
a minimum of forty lesson periods for each year. 

Following two years of more general study, pro- 
vision for specialization is made in the third year, 
with separate studies for Administrative Officers, 
and for teachers of each of the following age groups : 
Beginners (under 6) ; Primary (6-8) ; Junior (9-1 1) ; 



INTRODUCTION 7 

Intermediate (12-14); Senior (15-17); Young Peo- 
ple (18-24) and Adults (over 24). A general course 
on Adolescence covering more briefly the whole period 
(13-24) is also provided. Thus the Third Year 
Specialization, of which this textbook is one unit, 
provides for nine separate courses of forty lesson 
periods each. 

Which of these nine courses is to be pursued by 
any student or group of students will be determined 
by the particular place each expects to fill as teacher, 
supervisor or administrative officer in the Church 
school. Teachers of Junior pupils will study the four 
units devoted to the Junior Department. Teachers 
of young people's classes will choose between the 
general course on Adolescence or the course on Later 
Adolescence. Superintendents and general officers in 
the school will study the four Administrative units. 
Many will pursue several courses in successive years, 
thus adding to their specialized equipment each year. 
On page four of this volume will be found a complete 
outline of the Specialization Courses arranged by de- 
partments. 

A program of intensive training as complete as that 
outlined by the Sunday School Council necessarily 
involves the preparation and publication of an equally 
complete series of textbooks covering no less than 
thirty-six separate units. Comparatively few of the 
denominations represented in the Sunday School 
Council are able independently to undertake so large 
a program of textbook production. It was natural, 
therefore, that the denominations which together had 



8 INTRODUCTION 

determined the general outlines of the Standard 
Course should likewise cooperate in the production of 
the required textbooks. Such cooperation, moreover, 
was necessary in order to command the best available 
talent for this important task, and in order to insure 
the success of the total enterprise. Thus it came about 
that the denominations represented in the Sunday 
School Council, with a few exceptions, united in the 
syndicate production of the entire series of Specializa- 
tion units for the Third Year. 

A little more than two years have been required 
for the selection of writers, for the careful advance 
coordination of their several tasks and for the ac- 
tual production of the first textbooks. A substantial 
number of these are now available. They will be fol- 
lowed in rapid succession by others until the entire 
series for each of the nine courses is completed. 

The preparation of these textbooks has proceeded 
under the supervision of an editorial committee rep- 
resenting all the cooperating denominations. The pub- 
lishing arrangements have been made by a similar 
committee of denominational publishers likewise 
representing all the cooperating churches. Together 
the Editors, Educational Secretaries and Publishers 
have organized themselves into a voluntary association 
for the carrying out of this particular task, under the 
name Teacher Training Publishing Association. The 
actual publication of the separate textbook units is 
done by the various denominational Publishing Houses 
in accordance with assignments made by the Publish- 
ers' Committee of the Association. The enterprise as 



INTRODUCTION 9 

a whole represents one of the largest and most sig- 
nificant ventures which has thus far been undertaken 
in the field of interdenominational cooperation in re- 
ligious education. The textbooks included in this 
series, while intended primarily for teacher-training 
classes in local churches and Sunday schools, are ad- 
mirably suited for use in interdenominational and 
community classes and training schools. 

This particular volume entitled Story Telling for 
Teachers of Beginners and Primary Children, is one 
of the five units prepared for teachers of children 
under nine years of age. 1 It presents clearly the 
underlying principles of story-telling, discusses in a 
comprehensive way the methods that must be used by 
the successful story-teller, and gives directions and 
inspiration for the forms of practice which are essen- 
tial in acquiring the art. The illustrative stories in 
this course are taken from the Bible, and for that 
reason the lessons will be immediately helpful and 
permanently valuable to teachers in the church school. 

For the Teacher Training Publishing Association, 

Henry H. Meyer, 
Chairman Editorial Committee. 

1 The others are separate units for beginners and primary teachers on Meth- 
ods and Child Study. 



Sunday School Council Standard t Course in 
Teacher Training 

THIRD YEAR— SPECIALIZATION 

Beginners and Primary Units 

Nos. i and 3 separate for each department. 

Periods 

1. Specialized Child Study (Beginners and Primary 

age) 10 

2. Stories and Story Telling 10 

3. Beginners and Primary Methods, Including Practice 

Teaching and Observation 20 

40 
Junior Units 

1. Specialized Child Study (Junior age) 10 

2. Christian Conduct for Juniors 10 

3. Junior Teaching Materials and Methods 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Junior De- 

partment _io 

40 
Intermediate, Senior, and Young People's Units 

Separate for each department. 

1. Study of the Pupil 10 

2. Agencies of Religious Education 10 

3. Teaching Materials and Methods 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Department 10 



General Course on Adolescence. Same subjects as above 
but covering the entire period, ages 13-24, in each 
unit. 



40 



Adult Units 

1. Psychology of Adult Life 10 

2. The Religious Education of Adults 10 

3. Principles of Christian Service 10 

4. Organization and Administration of the Adult De- 

partment 10 

40 
Administrative Units 

1. Outline History of Religious Education 10 

2. The Educational Task of the Local Church 10 

3. The Curriculum of Religious Education 10 

4. Problems of Sunday School Management _io 

40 

Full information regarding any of these units will be furnished 
by denominational publishers on application. 

IO 



CHAPTER I 
WHAT STORIES REALLY ARE 

The story and the child. — Not since the days of the 
minstrels has story-telling held so honored a place as 
it holds to-day, for with the advance of psychology has 
come a realization of its power as an educational fac- 
tor, and consequently every program that has for its 
aim the mental, moral, or spiritual training of the child 
includes the art of the narrator. In the church and 
secular school, in the library and on the public play- 
ground, in fact, wherever the hosts of childhood are 
marshaled, the story has come to be regarded as a 
mighty ethical force, as potent as the wand of Merlin 
to transform good little boy and bad little boy alike 
into reverent and wondering listeners. By its skillful 
use we can create moods and call into play every 
response we desire to arouse. We can lead the child 
to love that which is beautiful and good and to dislike 
the baneful and malignant as certainly as we can teach 
him arithmetical combinations and the multiplication 
table. If it is true that the story has the power to 
mold character, to build up new standards and tear 
down established ones, the question naturally arises, 
What are stories? 

The dictionary defines a story as a narration or re- 
cital of that which has occurred; a description of past 

ii 



12 STORY TELLING 

events. This is a correct definition as far as it goes, 
but the story that sways childhood is very much more 
than this. To say that the wind blew yesterday and 
tore the roof off an abandoned barn is a recital of some- 
thing which has occurred. But this bare statement of 
a fact would not send a group of children into a quiver 
of expectancy. 

A story is a picture that arouses intense interest 
and feeling. — A story, as we use the term in literature, 
must have an emotional appeal. In the words of Sid- 
ney Hartland, one of the greatest authorities on fairy 
tales and the power of the story, it is a picture 
presented to the mind's eye that arouses intense in- 
terest and feeling. 

That this is a more nearly adequate definition than 
the one of the dictionary will not be doubted by anyone 
who has observed the effect of a good, well-told story 
upon a group of children. They are utterly uncon- 
scious of what happens around them during the ren- 
dition of the tale. Throughout that period, and some- 
times for a long time afterward, they are far away 
from the usual environment, in the country and at- 
mosphere portrayed by the words of the narrator and 
mingling with the characters whose actions make the 
tale. 

Those who recall vividly the impression made upon 
them during childhood by some favorite bit of folk- 
lore know this to be true, while those whose recollec- 
tions are not so keen will experience in modified form 
what the child experiences by examining some genre 
painting. But it must be a picture that tells a story, 



WHAT STORIES REALLY ARE 13 

one in which things are happening, and you see what is 
happening and realize what has happened. 

An excellent subject for this experiment is Bende- 
man's "By the Waters of Babylon," a picture full of 
feeling, of beauty of line and color, and richly sugges- 
tive of event. As you study its haunting story of the 
exiled Jews you do not live in some drawing-room or 
in the alcove of an art gallery where it appeals to you 
from its frame. You are out in the plains of Babylon, 
suffering with Israel's suffering ones, who languish 
under the taunts and persecutions of their captors 
while their harps hang voiceless upon the willows. And 
exactly what happens to you as you view this or any 
other picture powerful in appeal happens to the child 
who listens to a story, for what the brush of the artist 
brings to the eye the words of the narrator bring to 
the ear and the inner vision. He lives the experiences 
of the characters portrayed as for the moment you 
were one with the persecuted Jews. But he lives 
them more intensely, because the emotional harp of the 
child nature is more delicately strung than that of the 
adult. 

A story is a series of connected scenes or pictures 
that make a plot. — A story is made up of several 
scenes or incidents. It is a series of pictures strung on 
a thread that makes a plot, each one of which con- 
tributes something to the action and interest of the 
succeeding one, until finally the action culminates in 
a moment of supreme interest and suspense that we 
call a climax. The hero is brought upon the scene, and 
immediately he embarks on a journey of adventure. 



14 STORY TELLING 

At once the interest of the listeners is aroused, and this 
interest accelerates with each move he makes until 
finally the thing happens that from the beginning one 
has hoped would or would not happen. Therefore it 
follows that all the events of the story must be con- 
nected. Each must be dependent upon the preceding 
one, and they must all merge finally into one of para- 
mount interest. If the events are disconnected, it is 
not a good story, but merely a motley group of inci- 
dents. If any one of them does not contribute some- 
thing toward the final denouement, or climax, it is a 
poorly constructed story. It will not hold the atten- 
tion because irrelevant matter in a tale weakens con- 
centration and tends to scatter interest. In a well- 
constructed story no extraneous matter appears, and 
the child who hears a good story well told lives through 
every one of the experiences of its hero as fully as 
you live the experiences of a dream during the time it 
possesses you. He suffers and enjoys, he feels and 
thinks with the hero. 

The story appeals to the emotions. — The great 
ethical value of the story lies in its power to touch the 
human heart. Interest in its characters arouses sym- 
pathy, and through this sympathy, through approval 
or disapproval of the actions of those who move 
through the tale, right is made beautiful and appeal- 
ing. Wrong doing stands out in all its angularity and 
ugliness, and ideals are established that come only 
through deep responses of the emotional nature. Story 
tellers in Oriental lands know this very well, and con- 
sequently they regard their work as sacredly as the 



WHAT STORIES REALLY ARE 15 

Buddhist priest regards his. A lifetime of narrating 
and recollections of an earlier generation of narrators 
have taught them that stories are as air and water to 
the child and to the grown-up children who hear them, 
and in some parts of the East each public entertainer 
prefaces his tales with a religious chant or prayer. 
Hartland gives numerous instances of. the religious 
attitude of story-tellers toward their work. Floating 
through books dealing with the customs of Bedouin 
tribes I have found a number of others. And I once 
heard a beggar narrator in Sicily ask the blessing of 
God on his work before attempting to give to a group 
of street children the account of Rinaldo's struggle 
with fiends from u J erusa ^ em Delivered." 

The child needs to experience wholesome emotions. 
He must live to the uttermost now if he is to live com- 
pletely and helpfully later on. He must not be re- 
garded just as an apprentice for the adult state. One of 
the fallacies of the old theory of education was the 
belief that we must train the human plant for the 
future, without regard for his present enjoyment, or 
as to whether or not that training would permit him 
to live his childhood to the full. And because of this 
mistake many a man, having failed to experience dur- 
ing childhood the wholesome emotions that were right- 
fully his, has been unable to make the adjustment 
necessary for the joyful living of adult life. But twen- 
tieth-century education recognizes the fact that the 
child has as much right to feed his hungers and gratify 
his desires as has the man, and if there is any more 
effective means than story-telling of giving to children 



16 STORY TELLING 

the experiences that make for full and buoyant child- 
hood, it has not yet been discovered. 

Men in all walks of life and of all degrees of refine- 
ment attest to the truth of this statement. A nineteen- 
year old bandit, mortally wounded in a fight with offi- 
cers, confessed when dying that accounts of Jesse 
James and the Hole-in-the-Wall gang started him on 
the high road to crime, because they portrayed it as an 
iridescent path of adventure. On the other hand, 
Josiah Royce, one of the most renowned and beloved 
philosophers America has produced, whose reverent 
attitude toward the Bible and all sacred things made 
him a power for good in the world, traced his fine 
spiritual feeling back to an isolated childhood, when 
his busy but wise mother read and told Bible stories to 
him and his sister. Afterward, in their play, without 
coaching or guidance, they acted these out as reverently 
as the peasants of Oberammergau and the Tyrolese 
valleys portray the passion and miracle plays. I re- 
member listening with delight as that sister told how 
much these stories meant to them, and of the sympathy 
she felt for boys and girls who have been defrauded of 
the heritage that was theirs. 

England's military chief, Lord Kitchener, cherished 
similar memories. This silent, undemonstrative man, 
who was generally supposed to be cold and unfeeling, 
had a fine reverence for sacred things. Upon the com- 
pletion of his military course, when he emerged a 
lieutenant of the engineers, he asked to be sent to 
Palestine to make a survey of that country, because 
it had become fascinating land to him through twilight 



WHAT STORIES REALLY ARE 17 

times of his boyhood, when he and his brothers lis- 
tened to Bible stories his mother told as they had been 
told to her by her father, who was a clergyman in 
Sussex. He followed the course of the wandering 
Isaac, moved over the desert spaces in the footprints 
of Ishmael, and up to where the multitude stood dur- 
ing the sermon on the mount. Time and again he read 
the Bible during those two years there, linking its great 
narratives with the hills along which they dragged the 
surveyor's chain, and finding in it never-ending satis- 
faction. And when one thinks of the reverence of 
this silent man for the old story times and the religious 
moods they awakened, he cannot help wondering what 
pictures must have come to him that night, when, em- 
barking upon a voyage from which he was not to re- 
turn, he went down on his Majesty's steamer Hampton 
with five hundred gallant seamen. 

The story is dramatic. — The story that is a vital 
force in the child's process of development must be 
dramatic. The account of the windstorm that tore 
the roof off an abandoned barn is not a moving tale 
because it is not dramatic, although to the one who 
witnessed the occurrence it may have been highly spec- 
tacular. Therefore it is necessary for the teacher to 
understand what constitutes the dramatic in literature 
and life, and not confuse it with what is merely spec- 
tacular. 

An event that does not affect the human soul is 
never dramatic though it may be destructive. The 
plunge of a locomotive from an open pier into a surg- 
ing bay or ocean; the hiss of flame tongues along a 



18 STORY TELLING 

building as fire rapidly engulfs it, or a bowlder lung- 
ing down a mountainside toward the bottom of a 
canon are spectacular and sometimes magnificent 
sights. But they do not tug at the emotions because 
they are not linked with any form of human or ani- 
mal life, and therefore they are not dramatic. But if 
a man is in the cabin of the engine, if a prospector's 
camp lies in the path of the rock as it lunges toward 
the canon, or the holocaust holds in its grasp the life 
of woman, child, or man, they become intensely 
dramatic because they react upon the soul by arousing 
suspense, fear, anguish, and several other emotions. 

This does not mean that in order to be dramatic 
an action must be violent, for some of the most dra- 
matic stories the world knows have no suggestion of 
physical risk or danger. It does mean, however, that 
it must abound in conflict, in an effort of each of 
two forces to overcome the other; of the fireman to 
rescue orphans from the blaze, of the engineer in the 
cabin to escape the icy waters of the bay, or of the 
prospector to be saved from the deadly momentum of 
the bowlder. Without conflict there can be no sus- 
pense, and without suspense no story can be dramatic. 
But conflict may be a mental process as much as a 
physical one, and for this reason many a tale in which 
every character moves serenely is often so dramatic 
that it grips the soul. 

Conflict is the beginning of suspense. It calls the 
sympathies into play. It fosters affection, prejudice, 
dislike, approval or disapproval. It makes the emo- 
tional tenseness we know as suspense, and this tense- 



WHAT STORIES REALLY ARE 19 

ness keeps interest pulsating at a high pitch until it 
culminates in the climax. As the characters come 
upon the scene, if they are brought vividly before the 
hearer as they move in life, they attract or repel; they 
awaken affection, dislike, or pity ; they arouse approval 
or disapproval, just as they do in life. This is why 
the story can achieve so marvelously in the spiritual 
life of the child. This is why, by its abundant use, 
we can lead him to approve or disapprove, as we would 
have him do. 

As soon as the hero appears upon the scene, show 
conflict between him and some opposing force or char- 
acter. But show it vividly and brightly tinged with 
what writers know as local color, not as a naked inci- 
dent. This means that he who hears must see as he 
hears whether the action transpires in a glacial land, 
on some bare mountain or desert, or in a flowery 
meadow edged by the blue ripples of a summer sea. 
As* he visions each of the characters in its proper 
setting the interest begins to run high. Thereafter 
the holding of that interest and raising it toward the 
climax require only that one shall move forward in a 
straight line and avoid diverging into bypaths as the 
thread of the tale is carried to a logical conclusion. 

To the young child there is a highly dramatic story 
in Mark lb. 13-17 provided the teacher who gives it 
has a well-developed sense of dramatic values and 
knows how to bring out all its color and beauty. 

On the yellow coast of Judaea by the farther side of 
Jordan, when the troubled were questioning Jesus and 
finding solace for their troubles in his marvelous words 



20 STORY TELLING 

of wisdom, mothers brought their children that he 
might touch them ; but the disciples rebuked and tried 
to send them away, because these adoring helpers be- 
lieved he had a greater work to do. 

Here enters a strong element of conflict in the de- 
sire of the parents to have their little ones blessed and 
kept, through the Master's touch, invulnerable to the 
blight of sin. And this element of conflict grows grip- 
pingly strong to the child as the twelve stand between 
the mothers and their desire. Suspense runs high as 
the little people hear and wonder, hoping they will 
not be sent away. And then comes a splendid climax 
in the moment when Jesus shows disapproval of the 
actions of the disciples and says, "Suffer little chil- 
dren to come unto me." But this lovely story, if re- 
counted as a bare incident, if just the statement is 
made that one day some people brought their babies 
to Christ and he blessed them, will give children no 
conception of the tenderness and sweetness of the 
Man of Galilee. It will have no more gripping power 
and will make no deeper impression than to tell them 
that it rained last night and some little boys got their 
feet wet. In telling Bible stories, as in telling all per- 
fectly constructed tales, the problem of the narrator 
lies in making the most of the dramatic situations in 
which they abound, and not detracting from their ef- 
fectiveness by losing sight of the elements of conflict 
and suspense. 

A sense of dramatic values seems to be born with 
some. To others it comes only through training and 
observation. But it can be cultivated, and some 



WHAT STORIES REALLY ARE 21 

specific aids in securing suspense will be given in an- 
other chapter, under the heading, "The Story-Teller's 
Specific Preparation." Without a well-developed 
sense of dramatic values no one can be a successful 
story-teller; and without story-telling the Sunday- 
school teacher cannot do lastingly effective work, for 
the story is the corner stone in the cultural and re- 
ligious life of the child. 

Universality of the appeal of the story. — Human 
nature is much the same in all ages and regions. Men 
advanced upon the path of civilization forget the 
struggles of their primitive progenitors and lose sym- 
pathy for them. But the child of the most enlightened 
lives through every stage that characterized the child- 
hood of the race. During his early years he is a won- 
dering, reverent creature, craving the very same tales 
that fed his aboriginal ancestor when he was a house- 
less nomad, the wonder stories that fitted into his re- 
ligious moods and portrayed omnipotence and spir- 
ituality in nature. So when he comes to Sunday school 
he is by instinct a worshipful being, and it rests with 
his teacher how long he is to remain so, whether the 
delicate tendrils already upspringing in the soul are 
nurtured into thrifty growths, or will die as frail 
plants die because of lack of sunshine and proper food 
elements in the soil. 

Story for Study — Jacob's Ladder 

Read the Bible story, Genesis 28. Read also the fol- 
lowing version: 

In the far-off lands of the East there was a place 



22 STORY TELLING 

that men called "the country of the wells," and in that 
place there was a prince whose name was Jacob. He 
lived in a happy home with his father and mother and 
big, strong brother, and could think of nothing nicer 
than just being there with his own dear family. But 
one day his father said to him, "Arise, go to the house 
of thy mother's father, and take thee a wife of the 
daughters of thy mother's brother/' 

Jacob knew that his father meant the Princess 
Rachel, for he had often heard of her sweet, beautiful 
face and gentle ways. She lived in "the country of the 
two rivers," a land many, many miles away from his 
loved home, and it meant that he must cross high hills 
and strange, lonely valleys before' he could come to it. 

He did not want to go so far away. He wanted to 
stay with his people in the place that he knew and loved 
so much. But because he was a good son he did as his 
father bade him. So he left the fair, sweet country of 
the wells and set out to seek the princess. 

All day long he traveled, across the fields where his 
father's sheep were browsing and blue and yellow wild 
flowers were like jewels in the grass. Then the path 
led up to the steep hills, over sharp stones and places 
where it was very hard to go. Very often he stopped 
and looked back for a sight of his home, until by and 
by, as the road curved over the hills, it was hidden in 
the distant valley, and he could not see even the smoke 
that curled up from its fires. 

He grew lonely and homesick. He wished he might 
meet somebody who would travel along with him and 
bear him company. But no one came. So day after 
day he pushed forward alone, and at night he slept 
by the side of the road and dreamed of home. 

One evening darkness came down very quickly. 
Jacob chose a spot for his bed and took a stone for his 
pillow. Then he wrapped his cloak about him and 
stretched out on the hard ground. 



WHAT STORIES REALLY ARE 23 

It grew very, very dark, and now and then a night 
bird called from the bushes around him. Its notes 
made him feel more lonely than ever, and it seemed 
that he never had seen a blacker night. He wondered 
if he would ever see his home again, it seemed so far 
away. He felt far away from every one, even from 
God. 

Then suddenly the place around him grew bright and 
shining with light. He saw a stairway that stretched 
from earth to sky, and upon this stairway were angels 
passing up and down. 

"How wonderful !" he thought. And then — more 
wonderful still — in a gleaming light beyond the ladder 
God stood, and Jacob heard his voice. "Behold, I am 
with thee/' the words came, "and will keep thee in all 
the places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again 
into this land." 

It was a dream, but a beautiful, wonderful dream, 
and when Jacob waked out of his sleep he no longer 
felt lonely and forsaken. 

"Surely the Lord is in this place," he said, "and I 
knew it not." 

He took the stone he had used for a pillow and 
poured oil upon it and he thought, "This will help me 
to remember the place where God taught me not to be 
afraid." Then he went on his journey and was happy, 
for he knew God was taking care of him day and 
night. 

At last he came to the house of his mother's father 
in the "country of the two rivers," and there the Prin- 
cess Rachel became his wife. 

This story differs from the Bible narrative, but no 
unwarranted fictitious details are introduced. The 
hero comes upon the scene in his proper setting, a 
prince living in "the country of the wells." By supply- 



24 STORY TELLING 

ing details that are implied the story is made as color- 
ful for little people as is the Bible version to the scholar 
versed in the customs and lore of the Hebrew people 
and land. 

An analysis of the story reveals the fact that this 
account of Jacob conforms to the requirements of a 
good story. 

Does it arouse interest? Yes. 

As soon as Jacob, the prince, and Rachel, the prin- 
cess, are introduced the child wants to know about 
them. 

Is it a series of connected scenes or pictures, each of 
which contributes something to a succeeding one, and 
to the final outcome of the tale? Yes. Six successive 
steps make up the plot, every one of which leads di- 
rectly to the climax. 

i. Jacob regretfully starts on his journey. 

2. A feeling of loneliness and helplessness as night 
approaches. 

3. Taking a rock for a pillow. Improvising a bed. 

4. The dream and the comfort it brought. 

5. Dawn and the proceeding on the journey in con- 
fidence. 

6. Arrival in Padan-aram and marriage to Rachel. 
Has the story an emotional appeal ? Yes. 

The picture of the man who loves his home and 
kindred but who is forced to leave them, and the feel- 
ing of loneliness and helplessness as night descends 
awakens sympathy. 

Is it dramatic? Is there conflict? suspense? 

Yes. 



WHAT STORIES REALLY ARE 25 

Jacob's feeling of helplessness, of being far from 
home, from God and from all protection is overcome 
by the vision of the ladder. A sensation of warmth, 
comfort, safety, and companionship supplants one of 
loneliness and fear. 

Is there a climax? Does the thing happen one has 
hoped would or would not happen? 

Yes. 

At last he came to the house of his mother's father 
in the "country of the two rivers." And there the 
Princess Rachel became his wife. 

Every other Bible story stands the test. The account 
of Elijah, 1 Kings 17; of Nehemiah, Nehemiah 1; of 
David and Jonathan, 1 Samuel 18, 19, 20; in fact, 
every tale in either the Old or New Testament con- 
forms to the requirements of a well-constructed story. 
The Sunday school narrator is privileged to draw from 
the greatest storehouse of literature the world knows, 
and it should be her delight to make whatever prepara- 
tion is necessary to enable her to present these gems 
to childhood so vividly that their full luster and beauty 
may be seen. 

Thought Questions 

1. Why should story-telling be given a prominent 
place in the Sunday school? 

2. What is the difference between a story and a 
chronological statement of events? 

3. What constitutes a plot? 

4. Are tense emotional experiences as awakened by 
the story of value to the child? Why? 

5. What is the basis of dramatic suspense in a story? 



26 STORY TELLING 

6. Why do tales that grew among primitive peoples 
have an appeal to the child? 

7. Why is the story ranked as one of the arts? 

Assignment 

Read the account of Rehoboam, 2 Chronicles 10-11, 
to determine if it contains all the elements of a good 
story. 



CHAPTER II 

THE STORY-TELLER'S GENERAL PREPARA- 
TION 

Need of broad preparation. — If through the me- 
dium of the story we hope to give the child ideals that 
will be strong enough to function in behavior, the 
teller must give to his narration the highest degree 
of artistic form, and therefore his preparation should 
be broad. By clear visioning of scenes and a ready flow 
of words with which to paint those scenes upon the can- 
vas of the eye he must have mastery of every tale he 
undertakes to present. But he must have vastly more 
than this. He should know something of the evolu- 
tion of literature if he is to understand literature in 
its relation to life. He should have some knowledge 
of the origin of races, customs, arts, and religions; 
and he should understand in a general way the laws 
of beauty and how to apply them to his work. 

This may seem an exaggerated statement of needs, 
especially if one remembers that some of the great- 
est narrators the world has ever known were men 
and women of little education, and not infrequently 
they were wholly illiterate. A glance at the history of 
the Middle Ages reveals the fact that the strolling 
minstrel, the minnesinger and the troubadour could 
neither read nor write, yet they shaped national ideals 

27 



28 STORY TELLING 

and made and unmade kings. But how many men in 
those days were minstrels and tellers of tales? A sur- 
vey of the population of Italy, southern France, Ger- 
many, and Ireland, where the story-telling arts reached 
their finest blossoming, and where lived and wrought 
those of the narrating brotherhood whose achieve- 
ments gleam like the high lights of a picture, shows 
that the percentage was less than one ninetieth. 
These immortal but untaught teachers were men 
and women supremely gifted in the art of story-tell- 
ing, as Goethe and Hugo and Boccaccio were gifted, 
and genius does instinctively what mediocre ability 
can accomplish only through arduous training and 
analytic study. Guy de Maupassant, Dickens, and 
Daudet never had courses in story-writing. Tintoretto 
untaught achieved a pinnacle of artistic greatness that 
has been the marvel of painters ever since he wrought 
with a magician's hand in Venice. And there is no 
record of Adrienne Lecouvreur being trained by any 
seventeenth-century Belasco. Their only masters were 
life and loneliness and sometimes a broken heart, as 
Schiller says. They painted, acted, or wrote as birds 
sing, so naturally that even had they not given their 
best effort to their work they would have achieved 
more than men ordinarily endowed, because of an 
overflow of artistic feeling that craved expression and 
an innate sense of proportion and the laws of beauty 
that amounted to a technique. 

This is as true to-day as it was a century ago, or in 
the yellow noontide of the Middle Ages. Only among 
millions do we find a Barrie, a Lord Dunsany, a 



GENERAL PREPARATION 29 

Tagore, an Anatole France, or an Ibanez. But there 
are thousands of men and women who, with proper 
preparation, can achieve in a small way as story- 
tellers; who can leave an impress upon the souls of 
children whose lives they touch, even though their 
names are not embossed upon the record of the ages. 
And the more preparation these everyday folk give to 
their work, the more broadly they read and study, the 
richer will the background be; and only out of a rich 
background come that facility and fluency of expres- 
sion which artistic rendition demands. It is of para- 
mount importance that they study the laws of tech- 
nique that have been deduced from the experience 
and performances of men and women of genius, for 
only through mastering these can anyone hope to 
come into the abandon of the artist. But above all 
let no Sunday-school teacher be discouraged by the 
thought that he is without talent for story-telling. 
It is written in the book of Matthew, "Out of the 
abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh." These 
words of wisdom hold superbly true in story-telling, 
and anyone who loves childhood can learn to tell 
stories appealingly and convincingly to children. 

Study the great stories. — The best beginning for 
this technical preparation is a study of some of the 
great stories in the field of general literature. With 
the Bible narratives the Sunday-school worker will 
deal continually, and ultimately the effort should be 
concentrated upon them. But to begin with a study 
of the creations of the great secular writers will help 
one to master the laws of story structure, and there- 



30 STORY TELLING 

fore this phase of preparation should not be over- 
looked. It will not only familiarize one with the prin- 
ciples of technique but will bring a finer appreciation 
of the perfect construction of Old- and New-Testa- 
ment tales, upon which all the art of the ages has 
been unable to improve. Many of the pieces of litera- 
ture in the general field are not suitable to give to 
children, but the narrator needs to know very much 
more than he tells. Consequently, it often happens 
that a tale that would have a far from salutary influ- 
ence upon boys and girls because of their inability to 
catch its lesson stands as a model of what form in 
story-telling should be. 

Fairy tales the first type of stories in the general 
field to be considered. — In this analytic study of 
stories one should not overlook the fairy tales, not 
modern extravaganzas such as appear from time to 
time in Christmas booklets and children's magazines, 
but the great racial tales collected by Grimm, Perrault, 
Bechstein, and Joseph Jacobs — "Red Riding Hood," 
"Puss in Boots/' "Hop o' My Thumb/' "Sleeping 
Beauty," and all the other favorites our childhood 
knew. If the book is available, a study should be made 
of the Pentamarone, first published in Italy more than 
three hundred years ago, but still regarded by folk- 
lorists as the best collection of fairy tales ever written. 
Fairy tales may seem far afield from the work of the 
Sunday-school teacher, but it must be borne in mind 
that in order to tell the Bible narratives well one must 
know unmistakably what constitutes a good story. 
These old fairy tales, gathered from the peasantry in 



GENERAL PREPARATION 31 

different parts of the world, are told as the people told 
them through a long succession of generations. There- 
fore they are a graphic illustration of the form of 
narrative that appeals to the primitive mind, which is 
the child mind. 

Works of modern masters of the short story to 
follow fairy tales. — Follow the study of fairy tales 
with the short stories of such writers as De Maupas- 
sant, Tolstoy, Stevenson, Kipling, Poe, Rene Bazin 
and Joseph Conrad. With an observation of these 
will come the realization that the fundamental prin- 
ciples of construction used by the masters of modern 
times are identical with those according to which the 
unlettered tribesman cast his narratives. Regardless 
of embellishment, regardless of the number of by- 
paths along which the characters stray as the action of 
the plot unfolds, the salient features of construction 
are ever the same. There is the immediate limning 
of the characters upon the film outspread to the eye 
in the beginning of the story. There is the conflict that 
makes for strong dramatic suspense. There is a 
series of incidents as the action moves speedily and in 
a direct line through the body of the story, heighten- 
ing the interest with every sentence. And there is the 
apex of interest, a moment of intense suspense and 
final revealment in what we call the climax. In a 
folk tale from the Fiji Islands or in that beautifully 
finished Slavic gem of Tolstoy, "Where Love Is There 
Is God Also," every sentence is contributory to the 
action of the characters. Every incident is dependent 
upon or contributes to some other incident, without 



32 STORY TELLING 

which the full plot of the narrative could not be re- 
vealed. In a word, a good story, whether ancient tale 
or modern, is as free from extraneous matter as is 
the refined gold of a Tiffany bracelet from the ore 
with which it came from the Nevada desert or from 
the hydraulic gulches of the Bolivian mines. Like a 
beautifully garbed human being, when we strip it of 
its trappings, the body is like that of every other human 
being, the society queen and the beggar in the public 
square, the king on a jeweled throne and the groom 
who cares for his horse. Realization of this fact is 
of paramount importance to whoever aspires to be- 
come a story-teller, for once he knows as he knows 
his arithmetic tables what constitutes a story, obstruc- 
tions vanish from the way and success is assured. 

Analysis the aim of story study. — In studying a 
story, the narrator must not, in his interest in the 
plot, lose sight of the fact that his aim is analysis. 
Constantly he must dissect, and as he dissects he must 
reflect upon the result. Otherwise the most omnivo- 
rous reading will benefit him very little in his desire 
to become a story-teller. If the tale is unfamiliar and 
grips his interest so that he loses sight of the principles 
of structure as he reads, let him go through it once 
for content, and then with an analytical mind, in con- 
formity with the following outline : 

Is there a rambling introduction? 

Do the characters enter and attract attention with 
the first paragraph ? 

Does the story begin with conversation or in narra- 
tive form? 



GENERAL PREPARATION 33 

Does the plot unfoldment commence with the very 
first paragraph ? 

Does the action move in a straight line, or does it 
zigzag and divert interest from the main thread of 
the plot? 

Does the tale culminate in a gripping climax, or does 
it seemingly get nowhere? 

Is there a nonessential conclusion, or does the story 
end with the action? 

Is there anything in the story that is nonessential, 
anything that might be cut away without spoiling it? 

By an analytic study of stories according to the 
preceding outline a sense of proper narrative form 
will be acquired more quickly than in any other way. 
One student, who has made a place and name for 
herself in the story-telling world, upon first taking up 
the work said she had no talent for narration, and 
therefore could not hope to become a good story- 
teller. But a course in story-telling was a prerequisite 
for the playground certificate she was eager to ob- 
tain, and therefore she went into the study of the 
subject with much earnestness. Beginning with the 
fairy tales, she wrote an analysis of the form of "The 
Ugly Duckling/' "Hop o' My Thumb/' and Bech- 
stein's "Seven at One Blow." Followed then in her 
notebook an analysis and comparison of De Maupas- 
sant's "Necklace," "The Gold Bug," by Edgar Allan 
Poe, and Rene Bazin's "The Man Who Brought the 
River." This gave her a conception of the com- 
ponent elements of a story that she had believed im- 



34 STORY TELLING 

possible for her to acquire, and which became the 
foundation of a successful career. Continuing this 
intensive study as she told many stories to children, 
she came into a confidence in her ability to tell stories 
because she knew unmistakably what constituted a 
good story. At the end of a year she had made so 
excellent a record with story hours in her playground 
work that she was appointed special story-teller on 
the five public playgrounds of her town. Yet in the 
beginning she said she could not tell stories, and not 
until an analysis of stories brought light and confi- 
dence, and much study and practice followed that 
analysis, was she able to do so. 

Analytic study of Bible stories to follow that of 
tales in the general field. — Since the aim of the 
Sunday-school worker is to tell the Old- and New- 
Testament stories so skillfully that they will be vivid 
and convincing to the child, the study of stories in 
the general field is but a means to that end, a blazing 
of the trail that will take him to the broad highway 
that leads to the goal. After several fairy tales and 
modern short stories have been dissected, the same 
method of analytic study should be applied to the 
Bible stories. 

The following list is a good one for the beginner: 

The Story of the Creation — Genesis i. 

Lot Taken Captive and Rescued — Genesis 14. 

The Story of Moses — Exodus 2. 

The Building of the Temple — 1 Kings 6. 

Study of book on the technique of the short story 
a necessary preparation. — Hand in hand with an 



GENERAL PREPARATION 35 

analysis of stories should go some book on the 
technique of the short story. For this an excellent 
work is Writing the Short Story, by Berg Esenwein. 
Whether one deals with the written or oral story the 
principles of. construction are identical, and the very 
best training the narrator can have for his work is 
the writing of stories. Students who have been re- 
quired to write one story to every two or three told 
in class or on the playground testify to the fact that 
the writing phase of the preparation has been more 
helpful to them than practice in telling. Once a 
person knows how to construct, the rendition be- 
comes easy, and to the beginner the power to con- 
struct comes more easily through writing than 
through telling. The Philosophy of the Short Story >t 
by Brander Matthews, is another helpful book, and 
if possible the narrator should familiarize himself 
with The Evolution of Literature, by A. S. Mac- 
Kenzie. This is a very comprehensive story of how 
literature has developed from the first crude, spoken 
form to the highly artistic creation of Hugo or Tol- 
stoy. And it will give a conception of the value to 
the race of the spoken tale that every narrator should 
possess. 

One of the chief prerequisites for the broad prep- 
aration that makes possible big achievement in the 
field of story-telling is some knowledge of the 
science of aesthetics, of the principles and laws of 
beauty and their relation to the arts and to life. Since 
story-telling is an art, its relation to and dependence up- 
on all the other arts should be understood clearly. The 



36 STORY TELLING 

study of aesthetics will give this understanding, and 
through it will be seen the place of each of the arts 
in the universal scheme of things. Through it will 
come also a conception of the value to humanity of 
the specific one in which he is interested that will 
make him willing to labor to be worthy of being a 
toiler in its ranks. He will begin to believe with the 
great creator of "Parsifal," that there must be some 
last judgment that shall fearfully damn all those 
who upon this earth have dared to make profit of this 
chaste and holy art; who have disgraced and dis- 
honored it through badness of heart and the coarse 
instincts of sensuality, or by being satisfied to give 
to it anything but the best fruit of soul and brain. 

For a study of the broad field of aesthetics in a 
detailed, comprehensive way, an excellent book is 
Essentials of Aesthetics, by George Lansing. This 
is a fascinating presentation of the entire field of har- 
mony, form, color, rhythm, proportion, and sound as 
they exist in nature and in the fine arts, and will give 
an understanding of what constitutes the beautiful 
and appealing in any art. A less technical, but illu- 
minating and inspiring work is The Philosophy of 
Art, by Edward Howard Griggs. In this are consid- 
ered the primitive sources of art, the defining forces 
behind the artist, the unique function of each of the 
fine arts, their unity and relation to each other. This 
last mentioned chapter will greatly aid the teller of 
stories to little children. Although it makes no men- 
tion of story-telling as an independent art, what is true 
of the drama in its appeal to the mind and heart is 



GENERAL PREPARATION 37 

true of the spoken tale, which is a form of drama. 
Therefore the treatment of the drama in any book on 
aesthetics has a direct bearing upon the work of the 
narrator. 

A study of pictures is part of the equipment of 
the story-teller. — The teller of stories to little chil- 
dren must often draw from the entire field of art if 
his work is to be well balanced and effective. This 
fact should be fully sensed by the narrator. Conse- 
quently, it is repeated for the sake of emphasis. To 
give the Bible stories without investing them with the 
color of Giulio Romano, Pellafrina da Modena, Mu~ 
rillo, Michael Angelo, Titian, Dore or Rembrandt is* 
to permit the child to experience only half the de- 
light he should have in them. Nothing so vivifies a 
tale as a picture illustrating that tale, and by means 
of the cheap reproductions sent out by the several 
print companies, this vivifying influence is within 
the reach of every Sunday school. The teacher in the 
Beginners and Primary Departments will often find 
in the world of art not allied with the biblical subjects 
many pictures that tend to bring home to the child 
the lesson the Bible story teaches. A very helpful- 
book for these workers is Kindergarten Bible Stories, 
by L. E. Cragin, because of its selection of pictures, 
while the stories given therein will furnish many 
suggestions for other stories. The classified cata- 
logues issued by the Brown, Perry, Prang, and Uni- 
versity Print Companies are suggestive. Grouped 
under the headings, "Biblical Subjects," "Italian Art," 
"French Art," etc., pictures are classified in such a 



38 STORY TELLING 

manner that even the teacher who has no knowledge 
of art will be able to make a selection that will greatly 
aid her in her work. When the course for the year 
is outlined, if the helps furnished do not include pic- 
tures, the teacher should make a list of story themes 
and study the catalogues for pictures illustrative of 
each, that they may be ordered and ready for the class 
when needed. A well-classified list of pictures for 
the needs of workers in the various departments of 
the Sunday school is also found in The Church School, 
by Walter S. Athearn. 

Whenever possible the child should have a small 
picture to take home, that he may live with the story 
and the more completely possess it. Miniatures may 
t>e obtained from the print companies at the rate of 
two for one cent, and these are very valuable if the 
child is taught to study them in relation to the story 
after he has heard it, and to see the story in the pic- 
ture. Teach the children that there are different ways 
of telling a story, a language way and a picture way, 
and help them to see and enjoy in each picture the 
.story the artist had in mind when he drew it. 

A knowledge of great music part of the equip- 
ment of the story-teller. — Music will contribute as 
splendidly to the work of the story-teller as painting 
and scripture. This does not mean that one must be 
a musician in order to be a successful narrator, but 
it does mean that if his work is to be wholly effective 
lie must have some knowledge of the great music of 
the world, so that now and then he can bring it into 
lis work. Those who have not had a musical edu- 



GENERAL PREPARATION 39 

cation will find that studying the catalogues of the 
talking machine companies will be a tremendous help 
to them. These are so well classified and cover so 
completely the entire field of music that a study of 
them is a foundation for a fairly broad knowledge 
of the world's great melodies. One mother who had 
had no musical training, but who was eager to give 
her children the best, used a talking machine cata- 
logue as a textbook on musical literature. Supple- 
menting the outlines therein given with many refer- 
ences to the encyclopaedia, and then armed with a 
list of composers' works or musical themes, she 
bought the records that would give her daughters the 
knowledge and appreciation she coveted for them, 
and the results in culture and spiritual training in that 
family were almost past believing. Such a prepara- 
tion will give the Sunday-school worker an equally 
rich equipment, one that it is very necessary he should 
have, for the child needs to hear great music as he 
hears great stories. He will not catch the full mean- 
ing of the melodies of the masters, but he enjoys them 
more than most adults realize. After telling the 
story of the creation I have used with gratifying re- 
sults records of Haydn's "The Heavens Are Telling" 
and "With Verdure Clad." The account of Moses in 
the bulrushes I always supplement with some flute, 
oboe, or clarinet records, as being sounds like those 
the baby heard as he lay there in the reeds. My 
favorites for this story are "Song of the Shepherd 
Lehl" — Rimsky-Korsakow, as sung by Alma Gluck; 
"The Pipes of Pan" — Adrian Ross-Edward Elgar; 



40 STORY TELLING 

"The Wind Among the Trees" — Briccialdi; and De- 
bussy's "Afternoon of a Faun" — ("L'Apres-Midi d'un 
Faune"). Many selections that the Sunday-school 
worker can use to advantage are listed in a little book 
issued by the Victor Talking Machine Company, 
"Pan and His Pipes." This is especially valuable 
because of its classified selection of Christmas music 
and crusaders' songs. Usually instrumental records 
are preferable to vocal ones, because considerable 
concentration is required upon the words to catcli 
them as they come from the machine. Consequently 
little people get more pleasure and benefit out of just 
losing themselves in the melody. But sometimes 
quartets, trios, choruses, and solos, especially those 
of Alma Gluck, Louise Homer, and de Gogorza, 
whose enunciation is especially clear, are enjoyed by 
children quite as much as the instrumental records. 
And if a good orchestra is available, or some musi- 
cian will come in to play to supplement the stories, 
the teacher is fortunate indeed. 

All the great oratorios can be made to contribute 
toward the child's joy in the Sunday school and in 
fixing the Sunday-school stories, and it is a mistake 
to think we should not use them because their full 
meaning is beyond the understanding of little people. 
The sea is beyond their full understanding too, but 
it touches their souls with a sense of its vastness in 
a way that they do not forget. So too with great 
melody, the mighty sacred music of the world, the 
chant, chorals, and oratorios, and the compositions of 
every master whose work was to him a religion. 



GENERAL PREPARATION 41 

They open the gates to the emotional crypts, the 
places where feelings and instincts lie, and in a vague, 
incomprehensible way shake the whole being with a 
realization of something that is great and endless. 
I know this out of memories of my own childhood 
and by the response of hundreds of children who 
have come under my observation. At seven years of 
age the superb artistry of Rossini's overture to 
"William Tell" was beyond my comprehension. But 
a story had made it clear that it was a song of 
herdsmen and shepherds, of mountain streams and 
valleys flecked with the shadows of Swiss chalets, 
and it brought to me — and does yet, for that matter, 
for the old-time pictures reoccur — the green sweet- 
ness of the forest and fairies and pipers dancing to 
the cadence of cataracts. And what music beyond 
my full understanding brought to me, it will bring to 
any child who has a lively emotional nature and nim- 
ble imagination, once the story has awakened them 
into activity. 

A knowledge of primitive religious beliefs should 
be part of the equipment of the Sunday-school 
story-teller. — The Sunday-school worker who knows 
something of how the religious beliefs of the world 
have evolved and understands the religious attitude 
of primitive man toward the unseen forces of nature 
is better equipped to tell stories sympathetically to 
children, because the attitude of primitive man 
toward nature and religion is the child attitude. For 
this preparation there is no better book than Myth, 
Ritual and Religion, by Andrew Lang, which traces 



42 STORY TELLING 

religious development from the awe of nature which 
characterizes the savage through every crude process 
to the dawn of Christianity. He touches the wor- 
shipful side of the aborigine of Asia, of the South 
Sea islander, and the one in the American forests 
when the white man came. Without knowing some- 
thing of the attitude toward nature and the con- 
trolling forces of nature of these simple men one 
cannot fully understand the religious moods of the 
child. 

Nature study is an essential part of the prepara- 
tion of the story-teller. — Nature and religion are 
very closely associated in the mind of the child, as 
they were with primitive man and are with the pres- 
ent day savage. Therefore the more deeply the 
story-teller studies nature, the more he knows of 
birds and beasts, flowers, trees, and the wild, free 
places, the closer he comes into touch with nature's 
God and the more he can contribute toward the re- 
ligious life of the child. It is a fixed belief with me 
that every worker with children, whether religious or 
secular, should know and know well such books as 
John Van Dyke's The Desert, The Opal Sea, The 
Mountains, and The Grand Canon of the Colorado. 
Poetic in their conception, full of a sense of the 
presence of God although they make little mention of 
God, they arouse a feeling and reverence for and 
kinship with nature whose value to the story-teller 
cannot be estimated, for above all others the story- 
teller needs to have reverence and a feeling of kin- 
ship with nature and nature's God. A study of such 



GENERAL PREPARATION 43 

books as Nora Baylies' Wild Bird Guests, David 
Starr Jordan's Birds and Beasts, and Fabre's mar- 
velous works on insect life will greatly aid the Sun- 
day-school worker. With the story of David the 
Shepherd should go a tale of white-fleeced lamb, of 
field daisy and of bird that wings toward heaven lilt- 
ing blithely as it flies. These were part of the en- 
vironment of the shepherd, and will make his story 
more vivid to the child. By the many references to 
nature in the Bible we know that the Hebrews lived 
very close to nature, and that is one reason why the 
Bible tales are so appealing to the child. They are 
in harmony with winds, sunshine, blossoms and run- 
ning brooks, and so is childhood. In many, many 
ways bits of nature, of animal anecdote and charac- 
teristics will illuminate the work of the Sunday 
school teacher, sometimes in illustrating traits of char- 
acter, sometimes in bringing a biblical hero close to 
home. Therefore a study of elementary geology, 
zoology, and astronomy will abundantly reward. 
Often objection is made to introducing science into 
Sunday-school work because of the danger of mak- 
ing children irreligious. But how can it do this if 
truthfully and reverently presented? The more one 
knows of the wonders of the universe, the more 
reverence he feels for the Power that fashioned them, 
and instead of making him less devout it tends to 
make him more so. One of the greatest scientists of 
our time is as steadfast in his belief in the Christ of 
Nazareth as was his mother sixty years ago, who had 
no education beyond that of the lower elementary 



44 STORY TELLING 

grades. Not long ago, when asked his opinion about 
the idea so often advanced that science and religion 
are as the proverbial oil and water, he smiled and 
answered, "Suppose one does believe that life evolved 
from a germ; the great question is 'Who made the 
germ r 

Nature and religion go so closely hand in hand that 
they cannot well be separated and should n6t be with 
the child. Animal stories, plant stories, stories of 
stones and stars — all these should supplement the Bible 
account of the creation. Especially do the religious 
animal legends mean much to the child, such narra- 
tives as "Robin Redbreast, ,, one of the loveliest tales 
that ever came out of the East, which Selma Lagerlof 
gives in "Christ Legends." It is an exquisite piece of 
literature to use in connection with the Hebrew ac- 
count of the dawn of life, and should be told again 
at Easter time, especially the part the Syrians believe 
the little bird played on the day of the crucifixion. 
The child will respond to it with every fiber of his 
emotional nature, will grasp the truth wrapped up in 
it, and will joyfully memorize the beautiful lesson, 
"Because of thy compassion thou hast won all thou 
hast been striving for ever since the world was created, 
thou and thy kindred." 

Many another Old- and New-Testament tale can 
be illuminated by a nature story or legend, and, used 
freely, these ^tales will lead children to religion in- 
stead of away from it, and through them they will 
gain such realization of the marvels of nature that 
they will see with vividness the workings of God. 



GENERAL PREPARATION 45 

Especially helpful are nature stories in awakening 
in the little child that God-consciousness we wish to 
develop, and in giving him a sense of God's care for 
His children and for all defenseless creatures. The 
father and mother birds' care of their little ones, the 
nest-making, food-gathering and feeding are splen- 
didly illustrative of the love and watchfulness of the 
Father of all. There is a great lesson in the story 
of the seasons — how spring, summer, autumn, and 
winter each brings a gift that makes for the com- 
fort and well-being of all living things. The story 
of the rain and the dew, that quickens into life the 
brown seed; the snow that is a white mantle for the 
sleeping field of wheat; the flight of birds southward 
as cold days come and the return flying with mild 
weather; the hibernating of bear or woodchuck dur- 
ing the winter days and the coming of each from its 
hole with the creeping of spring across the border — 
all these have within them power to arouse in the 
child the questions, "What makes the rain and the 
sunshine ?" "Who tells the birdie it is time to move 
and shows him the way?" And then how easy it is 
to lead that child into an understanding of God! 

Plant and animal, bird and flower, river and moun- 
tain peak in story, song, and poem, all should go 
together in this blessed age of innocence, that it may 
be an age of delight to the child as well as one of 
abundant sowing. To sing Jessie Gaynor's sweet 
song, "The Wee Little Nest," or Emilie Pouls- 
son's "Cradle Nest" after the children hear a bird 
story will seem to them like living with the birds and 



4 6 STORY TELLING 

rocking in the tree beside them. For this reason 
such collections as Holiday Songs — Poulsson; Songs 
and Games for Little People— Walker and Jenks; 
Song Echoes from Child Land — Jenks and Rust ; and 
Song Stories for the Kindergarten — Hill, should be in 
every Sunday school library. 

The story-teller must have an understanding of 
psychology. — We must know something about the 
workings of the child mind and heart in order to 
reach them. Therefore a knowledge of psychology 
is absolutely essential to the story-teller. All teacher- 
training courses include this subject, but the isolated 
worker who has no contact with the school of reli- 
gious education, the one who must blaze his trail un- 
aided and get his training in solitude, will need at 
least one good book on psychology if he is to achieve 
largely. For the worker with sufficient educational 
foundation to assimilate a technical, philosophic work 
I would recommend an old, old book, perhaps the 
greatest ever written upon this subject, Entile, or 
Education, by Jean Jacques Rousseau. A fine com- 
panion book is that notable modern one, How We 
Think. However, since both of these are heavy, not 
easily digested books, those desiring a simpler work 
will make no mistake in choosing any one of the fol- 
lowing: Child Nature and Child Nurture, St. John; 
A Study of Child Nature, Elizabeth Harrison; A 
First Book in Psychology, M. W. Calkins. 

A knowledge of Bible history, manners and cus- 
toms of the Bible times a prerequisite of the Sun- 
day-school story-teller. — Lastly, whoever tells Bible 



GENERAL PREPARATION 47 

stories should have a broad knowledge of Bible lands 
and times. He should know the customs of those 
who were the contemporaries of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, and something of the modes of life of Israel 
and her warrior kings. The following list comprises 
books that are delightful in their vivid splashes of the 
color of Palestine and full of inspiration. Bible Man- 
ners and Customs, G. M. Mackie; A History of Old 
Testament Times in Palestine, Shailer Mathews; A 
History of Literature of Ancient Israel, Henry 
Thatcher Fowler; A Historical Geography of Bible 
Lands, John B. Calkin. 

This recommended course of preparation may seem 
a formidable task, and perhaps the question will arise 
as to whether or not it is all worth while. But there 
is no road to great achievement along any line except 
great labor, and the story-teller, as much as the 
painter, the sculptor, the author, and the musician, 
should be willing to toil and sacrifice, because he too 
is a maker of pictures and melodies, a creator of 
moods and ideals. If conditions make it impossible 
to cover as comprehensive a course as the one out- 
lined, choose one book from under each heading and 
make a thorough study of that one. And if sometimes 
the process of preparation seems a grind for which 
there is not adequate reward, perhaps the worker 
will find courage in the magnificent creed of Richard 
Wagner: "And I believe that true disciples of pure 
art will be glorified in a divine atmosphere of sun- 
illumined, fragrant concords and united eternally 
with the Divine Source of all harmony." 



48 STORY TELLING 

Thought Questions 

i. Of what value to the Sunday-school story-teller 
is an analytic study of great stories in the general field 
of literature? 

2. Why is a study of fairy tales particularly helpful? 

3. Of what value is an understanding of the prin- 
ciples of aesthetics ? 

4. Why should pictures and music supplement the 
story-telling work with children ? 

5. How does a knowledge of primitive religious be- 
liefs aid the teacher in the Beginners and Primary De- 
partments ? 

6. In what way does a knowledge of nature and the 
natural sciences aid the story-teller. 

7. Why does the story-teller need to have some un- 
derstanding of psychology? 

8. Give reasons why it is necessary for the teller 
of Bible stories to know something of Bible history; 
of the customs of Bible times ; of the geography of the 
Holy Land? 

Assignment 

Read the story of David playing before Saul, 1 
Samuel 16. 14-23. 

Write the story in your own words after this reading. 

Compare your version with that which follows. 

Follow this by reading 1 Samuel 16. Study the map 
of Palestine for the location of Bethlehem ; look up in 
the encyclopaedia the customs of the Hebrew shep- 
herds ; read also chapters eleven and twelve of the first 
book of Ben Hur. 

Write a second version of the story after this broader 
preparation and compare it with your first. 



GENERAL PREPARATION 49 

How David Used His Harp 

Among the sunny hills of Bethlehem David, the 
shepherd boy, tended his sheep. He was a good shep- 
herd, leading the flocks to green pastures and still 
waters, and watching all the while that no harm came 
to them. Sometimes he sang songs as he followed 
them over the slopes, and sometimes as he sang he 
played on a harp and made music that sounded far 
over the hills. 

Now, it happened that in the same country there 
lived a king whose name was Saul. King Saul was 
very unhappy. He had been sick a long, long time, 
and nothing the doctors and wise men of the land could 
do had made him feel any better. He had forgotten 
how to smile, and because he had sad, gloomy thoughts 
all the while deep wrinkles came into his face. 

One day some wise men began to wonder if music 
might make him happy and well again. They told 
their thoughts to the king, and he said, "Find a man 
who can play on the harp and bring him to me/' 

"There is a shepherd of Bethlehem who is skillful 
in playing/' one of them said. "He is strong and kind 
and very fair to look upon. He is the son of Jesse and 
is called David." 

A messenger was sent to seek him, and as David 
wandered here and there with the white flocks, petting 
the gentle ewes and watching that the lambs did not 
stray into dangerous places, word came that he should 
go to the king. His father gave him a present of bread 
and other good things to lay before King Saul. And 
then he set out upon his way. 

When he came into the presence of the king he be- 
gan to play. He played a song that he made for the 
sheep at evening when shadows were darkening the 
hills and he took them to the fold. Then he played a 
tune that the crickets and the quails and the wild 



50 STORY TELLING 

rabbits stopped to hear, and the songs the people sang 
as they cut the grain and made merry at weddings. 
And the music pleased King Saul so much that he 
began to smile. He forgot the sad thoughts and felt 
better, and very soon he was well again. He was a 
very happy king now. And David was happy too. He 
was glad to think he had helped with his songs and his 
harp. 

After that, whenever Saul was sick or in trouble, 
David played and sang for him and made him glad. 
And by and by he himself became king of Israel, and 
wrote for us many beautiful Psalms. 



CHAPTER III 

THE STORY-TELLER'S SPECIFIC PREPARA- 
TION 

First step in specific preparation is a survey of the 
field. — Specific preparation to a story-teller is what 
making ready for a concert is to a musician. His 
foundation has been laid by mastery of the funda- 
mentals of his art, his background enriched by broad 
knowledge of all pertaining to it. Now he applies prin- 
ciples and knowledge toward an artistic rendition of 
his program, in the hope of leaving an impression with 
his auditors that will not soon be effaced. And accord- 
ing to the greatness of soul of the performer, so will 
the result be. Like the man who has qualified in the 
science of engineering and goes out to solve through 
knowledge of that science some definite problem that 
will result in the creation of a bridge, tunnel, or break- 
water that shall be a high light in the history of trans- 
portation, so the story-teller must solve his specific 
problem of awakening impulses and establishing ideals. 
And he must do this in exactly the way in which the 
engineer goes about making his tube, railway, or aque- 
duct. 

Reading the Story. — He must survey the field. 
This means obtaining a clear conception of the plot of 
the tale he is to tell, which is accomplished by reading 
as a story is read for entertainment. But this reading 

5i 



52 STORY TELLING 

is only the beginning of the preparation, as the student 
will realize if he attempts to recount the narrative to 
himself Softer this reading. Unless he has had much 
training, or is gifted with an unusually retentive mem- 
ory, he cannot give it consecutively and smoothly. In- 
stead of advancing step by step with the correct se- 
quence of incidents, he will omit some necessary points 
and be obliged to go back and insert them. Why ? Be- 
cause reading a selection for entertainment is not 
analytical reading. 

It is of utmost importance that this fact be grasped 
by everyone who aspires to become a successful teller 
of stories to children, because much of the poor nar- 
rating in both church and secular school is due to the 
teacher's snatching up a book at the last minute, read- 
ing the selection once, and then attempting to give it. 
The pianist at a recital would not dream of interpret- 
ing to his audience a musical composition unless he had 
gone over it many times, but leaders of children do 
that with stories very often. And then some of them 
wonder if, after all, the value of story-telling has not 
been greatly exaggerated. 

Whoever works in this haphazard manner does an 
injury to a great art, an art that cannot fail to make 
the world a better and more enjoyable place, for when- 
ever by slovenly preparation a story-teller fails to 
reach his hearers, he brings disrepute to the narrator's 
art among those who do not know its possibilities. His 
own sense of the value of that art diminishes and he 
sins against childhood. 

Before attempting to tell any story he should know 



SPECIFIC PREPARATION 53 

the plot of that story as he knows the multiplication 
table. And he cannot know it without analyzing, with- 
out dissecting and examining each incident or picture 
in its regular order. After going over the tale to ob- 
tain a general idea of it, he should read it again, noting 
each incident in the order of its occurrence. The 
trained narrator can do this mentally, but the inex- 
perienced one will advance more rapidly if he indicates 
on paper the several incidents, and numbers them. 

I have been telling stories for many years, yet I still 
make this written note of plot incidents, and would 
never think of attempting to prepare a program with- 
out it. It fixes the sequence more quickly and firmly 
than anything else will do, and gives the narrator con- 
fidence that he is not going to forget and fail. 

Suppose the story is "Water Turned Into Wine," 
from the second chapter of the book of John. The 
plot outline would read as follows: 

Marriage in Cana ; Jesus and disciples called. 

Wine wanted ; none on hand. 

His mother advises the servants; waterpots set out. 

Waterpots filled, as he bade. 

Water drawn out, as he bade ; taken to the governor, 
who found it turned to wine. 

In a more complicated story, like that of "The 
Deluge/' Genesis 6, 7, 8, the plot outline would read 
somewhat like the following : 

A race of mighty men; all but Noah grew wicked as 
they grew in strength. 

God grieved by wickedness; determines to destroy; 
bids Noah build ark. 



54 STORY TELLING 

Building of the ark; Noah's family go into ark; ani- 
mals also. 

The Flood. 

The abating of the storm; Noah sends forth raven 
and dove ; dove returns. 

Sends out second time; returns with olive leaf. 

Noah removes covering of ark; goes forth with 
family and animals. 

Builds altar unto the Lord. 

A rough outline of this kind makes it easy to review 
the story if one forgets the order in which events oc- 
cur, and is the most helpful device for the student of 
which I know. 

Visualizing the story — seeing the pictures. — Once 
the steps of a story are fixed in mind the narrator must 
visualize it, must see every picture composing it as 
clearly as he sees the painting that hangs on the wall 
of his home. If the tale is "Epaminondes and his 
Auntie," he must have a definite mental picture of a 
little pickaninny, the cabin that houses the auntie, and 
the old darkey woman in the sunshine of the dooryard 
or in the kitchen among the pots and pans. Some 
definite type of Negress, house and child must come 
before the mind's eye of the story-teller if he is to 
make the children see the characters. Each one must 
be glimpsed in its proper setting by the narrator or it 
will not be seen by his hearers. This does not mean 
that he should describe the house, the boy, or woman, 
and weary the auditors with unnecessary details; but 
unless he has seen them vividly before attempting to 
introduce them his rendition will fail to move either 



SPECIFIC PREPARATION 55 

^children or adults, because it will not ring with that 
reality that brings conviction and touches the emo- 
tional centers. The child nature is a delicately strung 
harp, and the untrained, unskillful hand that touches 
it awakens discords instead of harmonies. If this 
thought is borne in mind, slovenly and ineffective story- 
telling, of which we have so much to-day, will soon be 
a thing of the past. 

Ability to visualize can be cultivated. — Ability to 
visualize a story does not require talent that is born 
with only a chosen few. Naturally, those possessed of 
vivid imaginations will find it easier than their col- 
leagues who are not highly fanciful. But training and 
practice will bring a power of visualization that seems 
impossible to those who have not tried it; and this 
training does not necessitate isolation for study or go- 
ing through any arduous grind. It may be had on the 
street, in the public amusement place, or in the homes 
of friends, for its foundation is close observation of 
every environment in which one happens to be placed, 
and afterward seeing that environment in memory as 
a little while before it was seen in reality. After pass- 
ing a shop window try to visualize that window as it 
was when it met your eye. Name the articles in it 
and tell the relative position of each. Do this with 
your bedroom when you are out of it, with your 
library, the living rooms of your friends and the pic- 
ture gallery where you sometimes go for entertain- 
ment. It will surprise you to know how carelessly you 
have observed until you attempt to give a description 
of familiar places. You will be equally surprised, af- 



56 STORY TELLING 

ter a little practice of this kind, to find how much more 
vividly you can see the pictures in a story than before. 
If the hero is a boy, what sort of looking boy is he? 
What is the color of his clothing, his hair, his eyes? 
If he goes to a village to get some groceries for his 
grandmother, is it a hamlet of thatched roofed cottages 
surrounded by cushions of turf, or a place of board 
shacks and bare dooryards — a mining town ? 

"In the country where a shepherd boy named David 
grew wise and good and became a king there is a town 
called Bethlehem. 

"The houses of Bethlehem have been built on the 
side of a hill where the sun shines almost every day. 
They are made of stone. Around some of them are gar- 
dens where lilies and other flowers grow." 

Stop and picture that country. Is it a land of high 
mountains and deep ravines, or of gentle hillslopes and 
sunny pastures ? Are the streets narrow and winding, 
or do the houses clamber up the hillside in straight 
lines? Are there a dozen or more of these streets or 
only one or two ? Historically and geographically your 
mental picture of Bethlehem may be far from correct, 
if your reading about the towns of Palestine has not 
been broad and detailed. But some definite picture of 
Bethlehem must be in your own mind or you cannot 
make it real to the child. You must see each object, 
each person and place mentioned, and if drill of this 
kind is persisted in for a little while, you will see 
each character and setting in every story you read. 
Remember that story-telling does not mean memoriz- 
ing and repeating something that has been learned. It 



SPECIFIC PREPARATION 57 

means making somebody else see and feel what you 
have seen and felt. The narrator is a creative artist, 
not a dramatic reader, and his mission is to paint with 
words as Landseer or Turner or Reynolds painted with 
pigments. There are pieces of literature that lose so 
much of their charm and effectiveness through repro- 
duction that they should be read as the author wrote 
them. Good illustrations of such stories are Barrie's 
"Peter Pan/' Maeterlinck's "Blue Bird," and Rene 
Bazin's "The Willow Taper/' And in using the Bible 
stories, especially with older children, it is advisable to 
tell a portion of the tale and read another portion, that 
they may sense the beauty of expression that makes 
these tales without parallel in literature. For instance, 
in giving the account of the death of Lazarus, from 
the second chapter of the book of John, the narrator 
might tell in his own words the story of the sick man, 
of the sisters sending for Jesus, of the disciples plead- 
ing with him not to go back to Judaea, of his calming 
their fears, and of the succession of incidents that 
make up the tale until Martha meets Jesus and his 
comforting words to her. Then, in the beautiful lan- 
guage of the New Testament, let him continue thus: 
"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the 
life : he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet 
shall he live. And whosoever believeth in me shall 
never die. Believest thou this ?" 

From this point the tale may be carried on to its 
conclusion, using the exact Bible wording in every in- 
stance where because of supreme beauty of expression, 
of some great message a phrase or sentence carries, or 



58 STORY TELLING 

because it has become classic in history, it should be 
repeated and reiterated until stamped indelibly upon 
the mind of the child. Moreover, in telling Bible 
stories, when speaking of something that has been said 
by either Christ or God, artistry demands that the exact 
words be quoted. In such passages there should be no 
adaptation. Do not say, Jesus told her that her brother 
would rise again. Say "J esus sa ^ unto her, Thy 
brother shall rise again/ " In long passages, as, for 
instance, where Noah is commanded to build the ark, 
in the sixth chapter of Genesis, it is permissible to say 
that the Lord told Noah to make a boat and to gather 
into it two of every sort of living thing, describing the 
boat and enumerating the animals according to the age 
and knowledge of the children. But there should be 
no adaptation of the short, exquisite passages that 
carry great lessons. Give such sentences as the Bible 
gives them. If there is a possibility that their full 
meaning may not be understood by the child, follow 
with some explanation. But in the actual telling of a 
story any other course of procedure would be inartis- 
tic, even if it were not irreverent. 

However, unless, as stated above, exact dialogue 
is to be used, the language of the story should not be 
memorized. When the narrator actually knows and 
sees a story the telling becomes easy. The blacksmith 
who has no oratorical gifts can describe a horseshoe 
with facility because he knows horseshoes, and at 
mention of the word an image of an elliptical bar of 
steel comes before his eyes. A dentist can give a fas- 
cinating dissertation on the structure of teeth because 



SPECIFIC PREPARATION 59 

he knows teeth, and the man who has lived in the 
woods can recount tales of birds and squirrels with 
such magnetism that he will draw a crowd. The old 
adage that knowledge is power has special significance 
for the story-teller, for out of knowing and seeing his 
tale comes power to tell it. 

Getting the background and atmosphere of the 
story. — Another step in the story-teller's specific prep- 
aration is to obtain all the information possible about 
matters pertaining to the particular story he is to tell. 
If it is a tale of Japanese children, he should read 
something about child life in Japan, or of the coral 
carvers of Sicily if he is to give an anecdote of a 
Palermo boy'and a coral medallion. Sara Cone Bryant 
has told in an exquisite and convincing manner the 
story of David and Goliath because she knows the Bible 
story in every one of its details, and because she knows 
enough of the life and ways in ancient Palestine to 
enable her to invest each situation with color and at- 
mosphere. The student of story-telling needs to real- 
ize this. The more one knows of the environment in 
which the characters live, the keener becomes the vis- 
ualization that is so necessary, and the more pro- 
foundly will the tale stir the child. Naturally, the 
amount of preparation will depend upon the time the 
worker has at his disposal and on the opportunity for 
research in his environment. But he should get some- 
thing of the atmosphere of every story before he at- 
tempts to give it, or the telling will be of little avail. 

This makes it clear why the teller of Old-Testament 
stories needs to study the customs of Old-Testament 



6o STORY TELLING 

times. He needs to know something about the feasts 
of the Hebrews, the particular significance of the vari- 
ous books of the Bible, the religious sects of the Jews, 
their laws, customs, occupations and modes of dress. 
Without this knowledge he cannot touch the stories 
with the atmosphere they must have if they are to be- 
come as personal observances or experiences to the 
children. Moreover, to become familiar with the cus- 
toms and ways of life of people of different times and 
lands is a part of the literary heritage of every child, 
and he cannot come completely into this heritage un- 
less his teacher or guide already has that knowledge. 

Securing dramatic suspense. — In the study of 
each story prepared for telling it is necessary to note 
the conflict that enters into it; to determine what op- 
posing forces or characters make the dramatic sus- 
pense without which no tale can be of gripping interest. 
From the simplest fable to the most complicated story 
there is a strong element of suspense due to conflict. 
Take as an example the story of the building of the 
tower of Babel and the confusion of tongues, in the 
eleventh chapter of Genesis. The conflict lies between 
the determination of the people for self-glorification 
and the will of God. In the first chapter of the book 
of Job the element of conflict is in the effort of Satan 
to disprove Job's faith in God, and the man's struggle 
to bear his sufferings. This conflict and the suspense 
it engenders arouses children to a point of tense eager- 
ness as to the result. Often this eagerness can be 
heightened by a pause and a deftly interpolated sen- 
tence, thus: "And God came down and saw the city 



SPECIFIC PREPARATION 61 

and the tower. It grieved him to see how proud and 
boastful they were, and what do you think he did? 
He sent them away from the beautiful plain, and scat- 
tered them far and wide over the hills and valleys. 
And what was even harder for them, he gave each 
one — a different language. Then they could not under- 
stand each other. Men who had been friends could 
not tell one another the things that were in their hearts, 
but whenever they met they had to pass by like 
strangers. It was very, very sad for them. ,, 

There can be no story without this element of con- 
flict. In everyone there is some difficulty, some pre- 
dicament of character or characters. Determine what 
it is. Then make it clear to the child that there is a 
struggle, and set him aquiver with interest as to how 
it will end. 

Practicing the story. — Practice the story. Tell it 
to yourself, to the tables and chairs, to an imaginary 
audience, aiming to make the rendition not only smooth 
and unhalting, but so dramatic that it cannot fail to 
catch and hold those who hear. The furniture and 
the family cat make an audience far preferable to the 
members of one's family or friends, because the 
thought of their criticism at seeing you do the unusual 
tends to stimulate self-consciousness and kill abandon. 
Tell it as when a child you told your mother about 
what happened at school, but smoothly and more artis- 
tically because of more knowledge. If you are filled 
with the spirit and atmosphere of the tale so that it 
becomes your own, this narration will be just as easy 
and joyous as was that of long ago. Remember that 



62 STORY TELLING 

long association with characters is what makes possible 
artistic performance. If the general preparation has 
been broad and thorough, and you have lived the tale 
until you can abandon yourself to the telling without 
any thought of the mechanics of the process, the rendi- 
tion will be spontaneous and natural. This is possible 
only when the story-teller is making no effort to re- 
member somebody else's language, when he has no 
memory of printed page to bother him, when his eyes 
as well as his lips are giving the message. 

Thought Questions 

i. What do you understand by "specific prepara- 
tion^ 

2. Give the first step in the story-teller's specific 
preparation. 

3. What is the value of outlining the plot of a story? 

4. How may ability to visualize a story be de- 
veloped ? 

5. Write a description of Bethlehem according to 
your visualization of it. (See paragraphs two and 
three, page 56.) 

6. What is the value of visualizing a story? 

7. What is meant by dramatic suspense in a story? 
How is such suspense secured ? 

8. Why is it necessary to practice telling a story be- 
fore giving it to an audience ? Is memorizing the aim 
of practice? 

Class Assignment 

Prepare for telling "Elisha Helping a Poor 
Widow," as given in 2 Kings 4. 1-7. After reading 
and analyzing the story, outlining the plot, and visual- 
izing the scenes, write a description of Elisha. of the 



SPECIFIC PREPARATION 63 

widow, and of her house and her two sons, according 
to your visualization of them. 

Prepare for telling to a class of young children — 
Beginners or Primary — the story of "The Message of 
the Angel to Mary," Luke 1. 26-38, 46-56. 

In making the preparation, keep in mind the suc- 
cessive steps as indicated in the above chapter. 



CHAPTER IV 
THE STORY-TELLER'S ATTITUDE 

Appreciation of material. — Upon the narrator's at- 
titude toward each individual story she is to tell will 
depend in large measure her success or failure. The 
worker, especially with little children, can have no bet- 
ter maxim to guide her in her efforts than these two : 
"Take your story seriously/' and "If you cannot re- 
spect the story do not tell it." A tale that seems trivial 
to the teller cannot be given in a convincing, appealing 
manner, for the child will immediately sense a lack of 
sincerity. In a vague, indefinite way he realizes that 
it does not come from the heart. His interest and sym- 
pathy are not aroused and it is certain to fall upon 
stony ground. Moreover, the half apologetic rendition 
of one narrative will prejudice the hearer against the 
narrator in the future, for whoever has bored him once 
with artificiality that leaves him unthrilled and un- 
swayed is listed in his mind as a poor story-teller, or 
as one whose collection of yarns is of inferior qual- 
ity, and only by ingenious effort and much artistry can 
she gain his interest another time. 

Every one with a first-hand knowledge of stories 
and childhood knows the truth of this statement out 
of his own experience. The professional in the public 
field and the mother in the home have each found out 

6 4 



ATTITUDE 65 

that if she does not like a tale, her child audience will 
not like it. And herein lies one of the most difficult 
problems the narrator ha? to solve, for with native 
temperament, environmental and hereditary influences 
each contributing its part toward shaping the indi- 
vidual taste, a type of story that is delightful to one 
may be obnoxious to another. Yet the hearing of each 
must be a period replete with joy to the child if the 
lesson it carries is to leave an indelible touch upon his 
nature. Therefore how is it possible, when material 
is not appealing to the teller, to give it with as much 
enthusiasm and sincerity as characterizes the narra- 
tion of some favorite piece of literature? 

Appreciation of aim. — The answer is by what Dr. 
Partridge calls "the persuasion of art." And artistic 
expression that quickens the feelings is redolent of 
truth, truth that rings with a clarion voice from the 
lips of one who has felt and believes in the message he 
is giving. Corot's "Man With the Hoe" brought about 
legislation in France to better the conditions of peas- 
ants there because the artist who painted it had seen 
and felt the plight of the man bowed down by his 
burden. By a year of study of peasant types in the 
fields beyond Paris, by actually living among the coun- 
try folk and learning the limitations of their lives 
they awakened his interest and compassion. And the 
beholder senses to such a degree the truth and sin- 
cerity emanating from that canvas that it calls all 
latent sympathy into activity. It speaks as convinc- 
ingly and unforgettably as a folk tale, and even if one 
desires to brush the theme fr©m memory he can no 



66 STORY TELLING 

more do it than he can forget the contour of an oak 
leaf or the smell of hay. To the artist who' painted 
the picture that clumsy laborer spelled human soul 
and heart throbs, and he portrayed him with infinite 
care because of reverence for that heart and soul. 
Therefore the beholder feels that here is truth, here 
is reality. And truth, whether it speaks through 
marble, pen, or pigments, is the force that rocks the 
ages. 

The story carries a message. — Truth speaks 
through the medium of the story as powerfully as from 
the canvass of the French painter, provided the tale 
is one that has stood the test and has survived with the 
good and great things that one generation passes on 
to another. Therefore every story worth the telling 
deserves the respect of whoever gives it because it 
carries a message to the child. It is an accumulation 
of the wisdom of the race, and any one to whom is 
granted the inestimable privilege of passing that wis- 
dom on to childhood should realize that to him has 
been given a sacred trust as well as a glorious oppor- 
tunity. Whether it be an extravaganza from the bud- 
get of some European grandmother, fairy narrative of 
beautiful imagery, or highly dramatic epic from the 
Book of Israel, somewhere among the meanderings of 
its plot is hidden a lesson for the listener, a lesson 
learned in life's school, and it is the business of the 
story-teller to study the tale until he finds that lesson, 
until he can determine wherein the dignity and value 
of that particular selection lies. Half the problem of 
the unappealing narrative is solved if this fact is re- 



ATTITUDE 67 

membered, if the story-teller will regard each contri- 
bution to the great literature of childhood as a sermon, 
and a far more effective sermon than one that is 
preached directly. 

It is this quality of carrying a message, of touching 
some elemental, universal problem, that has made pos- 
sible the longevity of the old, old tale, for nowhere 
does the law of the survival of the fittest hold more 
unvaryingly than in the field of literature. The mean- 
ingless and artificial yarn, the one that formalizes in 
the brain of him whose purpose is to win popular ap- 
proval or wealth for himself is cast aside with the rub- 
bish of the time in which it came into being. But the 
message-bringer and lesson-bearer, the one that has 
grown out of racial experience, out of deep conviction 
and sometimes out of heartbreak, whether it be folk 
tale, a novel of Hugo or Balzac, or a cross section of 
life from the pen of Tolstoy, survives that age and 
quickens souls in other ages because it is based upon 
some problem that touches human grief or happiness, 
and therefore helps to feed human desire. 

Once the narrator comes into an appreciation of the 
aim and value of a tale, there will be no difficulty 
about giving it with enthusiasm and conviction. In 
the International Graded Courses the stories prepared 
by Miss Danielson and Miss Thomas are outlined and 
analyzed with such detail that the teacher cannot fail 
to see and appreciate the aim of each. But the Sunday- 
school worker needs to know how to take other ma- 
terial and fit it to his needs. Therefore it is just as 
necessary that he make an analytic study of stories 



68 STORY TELLING 

for the value of their content as for the structural 
principles upon which they are built. A good plan 
for the teacher of beginners' and primary classes is to 
read the stories given in the leaflets or text books 
before reading the note on preparation, or any of the 
advisory material. Then set down on paper what 
seems to be the purpose and aim of that story, and 
compare your own deductions with the purpose of the 
story as revealed in the circle talk, the lesson plans, 
and preparatory note, and see how nearly you have 
grasped the thought and aim behind the narrative. 
After a little practice it will not be necessary to make 
the written report, but it will still be the part of wis- 
dom to read the tale first, and then think deeply re- 
garding it before consulting the preparatory notes. 
In no other way is ability to determine content values 
acquired so quickly. 

When the story is appreciated by the teller, when 
she understands its meaning and message, she should 
concentrate every effort toward getting that message 
home to the child. And she can get it home to him 
only by appreciating him and his attitude, as well as 
the material she gives him. 

Appreciation of the child and his attitude. — This 
phase of appreciation is of paramount importance, for 
the child heart and soul is the field in which the sower 
plants the seed, and the husbandman who knows not 
the quality of the soil of his farm plot reaps a scanty 
harvest. In the early, formative period, when the 
human sowing can be accomplished with such 
exuberant blossoming at some future day, the child 



) 

ATTITUDE 69 

in the Beginners and Primary Departments is athrill 
with eagerness to know. He is like a flower stretch- 
ing its petals to the light, groping for food that his 
inner nature requires, and it is the mission of the 
story-teller to satisfy this appetite with wholesome and 
abundant nourishment. The story brings to him the 
knowledge he is seeking, and therefore it is the most 
serious thing in the world to him. He believes in it 
as he believes in his mother, and to discover that the 
narrator does not believe is a shock to his vibrant, 
yearning nature. The world is so big and he is so 
little and helpless, and often he feels a sense of be- 
wilderment and loneliness. Adults who have not lived 
close to the heart of childhood do not always realize 
this, but it is a poignant truth, one that some of us 
know out of memories of our own early years. It is 
of vital importance that the narrator realize it, for the 
story brings to little people that sense of warmth and 
comfort that is craved in solitary hours. The knowl- 
edge that out of hard situations good issues come, the 
learning that one is rewarded just for being good and 
doing right, as always happens in the great tales of 
childhood, is his compensation for being little in a vast 
and bewildering world. He appreciates to the utter- 
most the events and characters in a story that feeds 
his desires, and this appreciation means far more to 
him than just entertainment. While he listens to 
that which he enjoys he is unconsciously choosing 
and evaluating. He is casting out in his own mind 
that which is undesirable, is keeping that which is 
to be desired, and is establishing standards. And in 



70 STORY TELLING 

the great tales that have survived the ages, the match- 
less narratives in which truth sounds through a trum- 
pet, the good looms with beauty and power and the 
bad is repellent and ugly. Appreciation on the part of 
the child causes him to realize this to a very high de- 
gree. But this appreciation must begin in an earlier 
time with appreciation of both story and child by the 
story-teller. And this appreciation secured, great and 
lasting results are certain to crown the work of the 
narrator, for then he will be able to give his material 
with the persuasion of art, which is but another way of 
saying that he will portray truth convincingly. 

Truth portrayed convincingly is the mightiest force 
the world has ever known. There are many examples 
to substantiate this statement. The glorification of 
dying for one's fatherland by the poets of four thou- 
sand years has led men to rush eagerly toward suffer- 
ing and death upon the battlefield. The fact that vice 
is surely punished and virtue is rewarded, powerfully 
portrayed by the narrative and pictorial art of every 
land, has established a belief in the inexorable work- 
ings of the law of compensation even before, out of 
first-hand experience, one has learned the truth of that 
law. Art broadens the world and enlarges the vision. 
It expands the narrow dooryard into the universe, 
because art is built upon truth. And art can make the 
child what we want him to be, provided whoever 
guides him can make truth convincing to him. Be- 
cause the great creators in every field know this so 
well we find a Claude Lorrain studying the sunsets on 
the Campagna while the pleasure-loving Romans were 



ATTITUDE 71 

merrymaking along the vias; Hugo and Balzac for- 
saking comfortable quarters for the misery of the 
Paris Montmartre; a Coquelin sojourning in a mad- 
house that he might act the part of a maniac so con- 
vincingly as to sway his audiences. And because the 
story reflects life, to every child taking his first steps 
upon the path his elders have alreadystrod, art, the 
narrator's art, will do for him what dpwn the long 
flight of the ages it has done for the world: it will 
teach him lessons he needs to learn, lessons that will 
arouse in him an appreciation of humility, beauty, 
truth, tenderness, and reverence, provided the teacher 
who guides his thought processes understands the dig- 
nity and value of every tale she tells, and realises that 
in the great literature of childhood there are no 1 mean- 
ingless or artificial tales, any more than in the realm 
of nature there is an unnecessary or ugly leaf. 



Thought Questions 

1. Why is it necessary for the story-teller to take 
the tale seriously ? 

2. What do you understand by respecting a story? 

3. How can a sense of appreciation of the aim and 
value of a story be developed? 

4. In general, what is the attitude of the child 
toward the story? 

5. Of what value to the child is his appreciation of 
a story? 

6. Explain how, through the story, the child learns 
that it is sometimes desirable to experience hard situa- 
tions. 

7. What is meant by "the persuasion of art"? 



72 STORY TELLING 

8. What is the value of portraying truth convinc- 
ingly? 

Assignment 

What is the definite message to the child in each of 
the following stories: 

Crossing the Red Sea, Exodus 14. 

The Triumphant Song of Israel, Exodus 15. 

The Five Thousand Miraculously Fed, John 6. 1-13. 

The Story of Jonah, Jonah 1. 3. 

Ezra's Explanation of the Law, Nehemiah 8. 1-12. 



CHAPTER V 
HOW TO TELL THE STORY 

The story-teller must have confidence. — When the 
narrator faces her audience of little people she must 
do it with confidence in herself that she is going to 
interest and hold them. Broad knowledge concerning 
the tale, its characteristics, theme, and aim will cause 
the plot to unroll spontaneously and smoothly. Living 
with it during the course of preparation until it be- 
comes part of the experience will put self-conscious- 
ness to wing, and, as Georg Ebers used to say of his 
Egyptian tales, "The story tells itself." And the thing 
that concerns the teller is that it shall tell itself in the 
best possible manner. 

The manner of the story-teller. — Be natural. This 
is the first requisite of good story-telling, and earnest 
study will secure naturalness just as surely as a sys- 
tematic saving of pennies will put dollars into the bank 
account later on. Of the method of preparation 
enough has been said already. The point to remem- 
ber now is this : Describe the pictures that come before 
your eyes in your way, not in imitation of somebody 
else's rendition. Be yourself, yourself at your very 
best, and in order to be this it is necessary to take stock 
of your assets and liabilities before you face your audi- 
ence. If you slouch as you sit or stand, learn how to 

73 



74 STORY TELLING 

poise and keep your body under control. Tone down 
your voice and modulate it if it is sharp, monotonous, 
or in any way unpleasing. Remember that nothing is 
impossible to him who keeps his eye single and his 
purpose fixed, and that a stutterer in old Athens be- 
came the mightiest orator of Greece. I have seen 
awkward girls reconstruct themselves into beautifully 
poised women, girls who in the beginning were so 
crude that their ambition to become story-tellers was 
a source of mingled amusement and pity to their 
friends. Yet they succeeded in accomplishing the 
seemingly impossible because they set out with deter- 
mination and never deviated from their purpose. Any- 
one possessed of intelligence and will power can do 
as much. 

The voice of the story-teller. — In speaking of voice 
improvement a word of caution is necessary. To make 
the voice pleasing does not mean to use a sugary tone, 
or, as Sara Cone Bryant says, "A super-sweetened 
whine," which always brings failure because the child 
detects affectation behind it. It means smoothing off 
the rough edges, as carpenters say, removing throaty 
or nasal defects, if you have them. It means polishing 
your tones so they do not jar upon the ear of the 
hearer, yet keeping them still your natural, speaking 
ones. It means securing purity, clearness, and dis- 
tinct enunciation without making any tone or modula- 
tion seem exaggerated. 

The question of gesture. — In order to bring vivid- 
ness to the child it is not necessary to turn into a gym- 
nast or gesticulator. The work of the story-teller is 



HOW TO TELL THE STORY 75 

precisely opposite to that of the actor, and while the 
artist of the stage must represent what happens in a 
drama, the business of the narrator is to describe. By 
his words he must picture the scenes before his mental 
vision so graphically that his hearers see them as 
clearly as he does, and therefore he must not attract 
attention to himself. Instead, he must lead the audi- 
ence away from himself into the midst of the scenes 
he describes. He must not obtrude his personality 
upon them in such a way that they are conscious of it 
and divide their attention between the teller and the 
tale. Consequently everything not necessary to por- 
traying the scenes must be kept in the background. 
This applies especially to the question of gesture, in 
which the beginner is always interested, and which 
often proves to be the rock upon which he meets 
disaster. Gesture should be a part of story-telling only 
when it forces itself in, when it is one of the narrator's 
natural forms of expression. If you gesticulate as 
you talk you will not be able to keep gesture out of 
your story-telling, and in that case it will improve the 
rendition because it helps to secure naturalness. But 
if it is studied and artificial, it will destroy the unity 
of scenes and divert attention from story to performer. 
So, because your colleague uses a shoulder shrug or 
an arm movement with fine effect it does not follow 
that you should use it. If you appreciate your tale 
and the message it carries, you will be so full of it that 
in your eagerness to get it home to your hearers you 
will not stop to think whether you should wave a hand 
or point a foot at a certain word or phrase. Gesture 



76 STORY TELLING 

will take care of itself, just as it does when you re- 
count the escape of the small boy you saw pulled from 
in front of an automobile, or of the woman who was 
rescued from the blazing house, and the narration will 
ring with the conviction that always characterizes 
whatever comes from the heart. On the other hand, if 
the thought of the teller is on gesture rather than on 
the scenes of the story, he will fall into many errors 
and his efforts cannot possibly bring gratifying results. 

This is why it so often happens that out of the 
preaching of street exhorters of little or no education 
have come movements that have swayed cities and 
nations. The speaker believed in the message he was 
giving, and in his eagerness to make others see as he 
saw, everything else was swept from his mind. The 
street cars and the passing throng did not disturb him, 
and men who stopped out of curiosity soon caught the 
earnestness of his appeal and it began to sway them. 
This has happened so often and in so many localities, 
especially during strikes, that it has come under the 
observation of almost everyone. And always the se- 
cret of the success of these men in obtaining followers 
has been belief in the message they were giving and » 
knowledge of the conditions against which they were 
crying. Did they study effects? No! When the 
heart is full to overflowing we do not have time to 
think of devices for making ourselves appealing, and 
we do not need to, for the overflow from one pulsing 
heart waters the dry places in other hearts. 

Taking one's time. — Story-telling should be a leis- 
urely process. To hurry means to blur the pictures 



HOW TO TELL THE STORY 77 

that come before the mental vision of the child, and 
unless each scene that contributes to the plot is vivid 
and realistic the tale fails in its purpose. The narrator 
must feel that the floor is his, and that he has time 
enough for the portrayal of every shade of meaning 
he wishes to convey. There are portions of a story 
in which accelerated speech heightens the effect, while 
to move deliberately would be to mar it. But this does 
not mean hurrying in the sense of rushing to get 
through. If the narrative you have begun is too long 
to fit into the time at your disposal, do not attempt to 
complete it before the bell rings or signal sounds and 
spoil it for the child. Make it a continued tale, but 
make the section given a complete chapter, and say, 
"Next week I'll tell you how the lost boy found his 
mother." The interest of the children will not lag 
because the selection is broken into parts, but it will 
have only half the effect it should have if they feel 
that you are hurrying to get through. They will be- 
gin to think of the time of dismissal or of change of 
classes, and interest will be on the wane. But it is im- 
perative, in case your memory is poor, that you make 
a note of just where you stopped, so that there shall 
be no uncertainty on your part as to where to begin 
again, and the children discover you are not as much 
interested in the story as they are. 

Covering mistakes. — The well-prepared narrative 
is seldom forgotten in the telling, but if some neces- 
sary detail slips from your mind, contrive to bridge 
over the gap in such a way that your hearers do not 
realize your predicament. The story is so real and 



78 STORY TELLING 

serious to the child that for him to learn that his 
mother or teacher does not know what happens next 
mars his joy in it and shakes his faith in the teller. 
Manufacture another detail or pass on to the next step 
and connect it with what has gone before so that he 
has no suspicion you have suffered a lapse of memory. 
The story-teller, like the actor, must learn to cover up 
his mistakes and to keep his head upon all occasions. 

Suppose the selection to be related is that of the 
gathering of funds for repairing the Temple, 2 Kings 
12, and you forget to mention at the proper place the 
detail of Jehoiada boring a hole in the lid of the chest 
and setting it beside the altar. Since this is a neces- 
sary link in the chain of the story, it must be inserted. 
And it can be done without spoiling the narrative for 
the child, and without his discovering that you have 
forgotten. Miss Thomas retells it in the primary 
stories of the International Graded Courses something 
after this fashion: "The priests kept the money that 
was given. They asked their friends for more. One 
would think there might have been money enough, but 
there was not. Still more was needed." 

(At this point the detail of the preparation of the 
chest should be inserted.) 

Suppose the story-teller forgets to do this and dis- 
covers a little later that a necessary detail has been 
omitted. He can bridge over the gap thus: "So the 
king asked the people to come to the Temple and bring 
an offering. The people were glad to help and did 
as he bade them. They came from all over the coun- 
try. They gave money to the priests. The priests put 



HOW TO TELL THE STORY 79 

the money into a chest that stood at the side of the 
altar. It was a big chest ; and very strong and heavy. 
In the top was a hole big enough for all the gold and 
silver pieces to slip through. Jehoiada, the priest, had 
cut the hole there and made the chest ready as soon 
as the king told the priests they would mend the 
Temple." 

Changes of voice in telling a story. — Make the 
tone of voice fit the characters. Remember that giants 
are not silvery-tongued like beautiful princesses, and 
that the gentle grandmother speaks in a softer key than 
the one used by the wicked witch. Keep the voice true 
to the various roles if you wish to bring vividness to 
the child. It is a good plan to practice the colloquy of 
the witches, giants, fairies, and other personages that 
move through the tale until the change from one voice 
to another is easy and spontaneous. One may have a 
clear idea as to how the tones should sound, but only 
by hearing ourselves give them can we know whether 
they ring with realism or affectation. And as they 
seem to us, so will they seem to the children. Some- 
times in speaking the part of a giant, or of a squeaky- 
voiced old woman, if it is an unaccustomed role, self- 
consciousness and diffidence make the tones seem arti- 
ficial even when they typify excellently the personages 
in mind. Practice will remedy this, and after a few 
repetitions we can give them with abandon. And by 
practice, by doing many times the same bit of dialogue, 
one learns which of several pitches is best. And hav- 
ing learned the best, the story-teller can make it his 
own. Professional narrators are doing this constantly, 



80 STORY TELLING 

and the beginner will make a grave mistake if he at- 
tempts to get along without it. Joseph Jefferson was 
a king of the stage, yet he said he never had sufficient 
time for the preparation of any role he played. Even 
after he was famous as the portrayer of Rip Van 
Winkle he practiced one of Rip's calls to his dog in 
seventeen different ways to see if he could find a more 
effective method of giving it. 

In all the Bible stories in which there is much dia- 
logue the story-teller should endeavor to make the 
voice fit the characters as he visions them. Try to 
portray the voices of Samuel and Saul in the story of 
Saul's dethronement foretold, I Samuel 15. Other 
Bible stories in which change of voice in the dialogue 
will make the telling more effective are: The Five 
Thousand Fed, John 6. 1-13; The Meal and Oil that 
Did Not Fail, 1 Kings 17. 8-16; The Blind Man Cured, 
John 9. i-ii. 

Vary the tone in narrative portions as much as in 
the dialogue. To suddenly drop the voice low after 
one has been speaking in the usual conversational tone 
tends to heighten the suspense. This is especially help- 
ful when children begin to show inattention. Quiet 
begets quiet, whereas noise and restlessness summon 
their own kind. Another aid in securing interest when 
it shows signs of wandering is to speak the name of a 
child thus: "And, John, then the thunder came"; or, 
"You three boys in the back row never can guess what 
happened next." The personal equation enters. The 
inattentive child begins to feel that the story is being 
told especially for him and he listens again. 



HOW TO TELL THE STORY 81 

The pause in telling a story. — Nothing is more ef- 
fective in heightening dramatic effect of a tale, espe- 
cially near the climax, than the sudden, unexpected 
pause, the pause in the middle of the sentence or just 
after the opening words. "And then — two big eyes 
shone through the darkness;" or, "The boy ran with- 
out stopping until he came to the injured dog, and the 
big, shaggy fellow — looked up and wagged his tail." 
"The priests took up the ark and carried it to the edge 
of the river and stepped into the water. As they did 
this the river — stopped flowing in its regular way." 
"When he reached Jerusalem Jesus went to the Tem- 
ple, but — he did not stay there long." 

The use of pictures in telling a story. — The use of 
pictures in telling a story is of tremendous value, pro- 
vided they are handled with smoothness and artistry. 
But I have seen what promised to be a splendid piece 
of story-telling end in failure because illustrative ma- 
terial was used in such a way that it diverted interest 
from the tale. There are several methods that bring 
gratifying results, and it is for the individual to decide 
which he can use to the best advantage. Some workers 
show illustrative material before telling the story and 
make it the object of discussion. Others make an ob- 
servation of pictures and objects an aftermath to the 
tale, and some show them during the process of narra- 
tion. Inasmuch as story-telling belongs to the field of 
art, the worker in its ranks should be privileged to 
manipulate his materials in the way he can use them 
most effectively. Therefore to tell him when or where 
to exhibit a picture is to hamper instead of aid him. 



82 STORY TELLING 

In my own programs I sometimes use one method and 
sometimes another, and sometimes a combination of 
the three. It is a matter for each worker to decide 
for himself, because success with object work depends 
upon the type of tale, upon the children, and upon the 
teller's mood. The inexperienced narrator usually 
finds it easier to precede or follow the story with pic- 
tures or objects, although I have known beginners who 
were remarkably skillful in introducing them during 
the course of the narration. The point to remember 
in doing this is that they must be brought in so as to 
seem part of the tale, never as outside material that 
breaks the plot thread. They should be at the teller's 
hand and arranged as the lecturer with a balopticon 
arranges his slides. Otherwise they will seem to the 
child irrelevant to the story, and by a scattering of 
interest he will lose part of the value of both picture 
and tale. Do not say, "Now I shall show you a pic- 
ture of a shepherd boy like David," and then proceed 
to hold up the picture. Say instead, "He was a gentle- 
faced lad with soft hair and shaggy skin clothes, and 
he carried a crook, just like the boy in this picture. 
And the sheep were white and fleecy, like this mother 
and her two lambs." 

The same method should be employed in using 
drawings to illustrate a story. Do not stop unwinding 
the thread of the narrative and have the class wait 
while you make a sketch on the blackboard. Draw 
the tale, or let the chalk do it as you tell it instead of 
halting the action while you illustrate. The teacher 
who can sketch in a sheep fold or hillside as she re- 



HOW TO TELL THE STORY 83 

counts the exploits of David, who can by a few curves 
and lines show the relative position of the good boy 
and the fierce giant, is fortunate indeed, for the crud- 
est of drawings have a vivifying power to the child, 
provided they are made to fit into the story and are 
done while his imagination is working to full capacity, 
so that he mentally completes the picture that is out- 
lined before his eyes. It requires some talent to sketch 
men, women, pigs, and cows into a tale, but a few 
strokes will indicate a tree or peasant house or king's 
castle, or a seashore with boats sailing into the blue 
unknown. And to little children those few strokes 
made during the telling of the tale mean more than a 
finished production after the narrative is completed. 

As stated in a previous chapter, practice telling the 
story to an imaginary audience as you would tell it 
to a real one, using pictures, objects, drawings, and 
whatever material you believe will facilitate your work. 
Then face your class strengthened by preparation and 
belief, and be natural. Let the thought of the fra- 
grance of the flower gladden your sowing of the seed, 
remembering that the story lived in childhood is quite 
certain to become a blossoming tree of fragrance and 
beauty in later years. 

Thought Questions 

1. Why is it a mistake for the story-teller to imitate 
the manner of another? 

2. What points should be kept in mind in attempt- 
ing to improve the manner of telling a story? 

3. How may voice improvement be secured with- 
out affectation? 



84 STORY TELLING 

4. Why is it a mistake to practice specific gestures 
to use in telling a story ? 

5. In what way is it possible to avoid hurrying if a 
story is too long to tell during the time at one's dis- 
posal ? 

6. Why is it advisable to change the voice in dia- 
logue portions of a story? In narrative portions? 

7. How should pictures and objects be used in story- 
telling to secure the best results? 

Assignment 

Study the story of Queen Esther, Esther 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. 

Retell this story in your own words, bearing in mind 
the idea of changing the voice wherever such changes 
will serve to make the tale vivid. 



CHAPTER VI 
PRACTICE IN CONDENSATION 

The story-teller versus the dramatic reader. — The 

popular idea of the story-teller as a sort of public 
reader or elocutionist who finds a tale in a book, mem- 
orizes and then recounts it to an audience is very far 
from being true. A rendition of this kind may be ex- 
cellent as a dramatic reading, but it is not story-telling, 
never was considered story-telling by those who knew 
what constituted the narrator's art, and never will be. 
Yet so often even professional entertainers err in an- 
nouncing that they will tell a story when they give a 
reading that it is important that the beginner shall un- 
derstand the difference. And herein lies the difference : 
To give a reading means to memorize a selection and 
then recite it to an audience. To tell a story is to de- 
scribe the pictures or incidents that make up the plot 
of the tale, as the teller sees them at that time, and in 
the words that occur to him at that time. Not long ago 
I heard a professional entertainer say she would tell 
the story of Epaminondes and his Auntie. But she 
did not tell the story of Epaminondes. She had mem- 
orized word for word the version of the tale that Sara 
Cone Bryant gives, and then recited it. As a reading 
the performance was creditable. As story-telling it 
was a pitiful failure, and by those who knew she was 
very disparagingly criticized for claiming to do some- 

85 



86 STORY TELLING 

thing she did not do. To use a common expression, she 
was sailing under false colors, which is something the 
true artist will never stoop to do. 

The rearrangement of material. — The specific prep- 
aration of the story-teller often means much more than 
analyzing a tale that is already in shape for telling, 
visualizing its scenes and incidents, and living with 
them until they become personal experiences. Not in- 
frequently he must reconstruct or adapt his material, 
for many a narrative not in proper form for telling 
carries a message so important to the child that he can- 
not afford to leave it out of his programs. Sometimes 
a selection that in style and language is suited to 
adolescents, or even adults, can be simplified into a 
joy-bringer to little people. Sometimes one that is too 
long and rambling requires condensation. And very 
often it happens that an entire rearrangement of inci- 
dents is necessary, as, for instance, in a tale where the 
action moves backward from the climax to illustrate 
cause and effect. And sometimes an incident in a book 
of history, biography, or a magazine is so fraught with 
meaning to boys and girls that it deserves amplification 
into a story for telling. Of these several processes the 
narrator must be master. And this mastery places him 
in the same class with the creative artist, the author 
who writes a novel around the life of some man or 
woman whose story he has heard, or the composer who 
makes a folk song the nucleus of a suite or Hungarian 
Rhapsody. 

The successive steps in condensation. — Of the sev- 
eral processes of adaptation, condensation, and elim- 



CONDENSATION 87 

ination, condensation is one most easily handled by the 
beginner, and the one the average worker will have 
occasion to use most frequently. And condensation is 
so easy, once the underlying principles are understood, 
that by its use even the beginner can multiply his stock 
of tales. 

Condensation begins with analyzing the story to get 
a clear idea of the plot. Then follows the cutting away 
of everything that can be omitted and yet keep a clear 
and connected narrative. Description may give a very 
beautiful touch to the written story, but it has no place 
in the oral one, where every minute something must be 
happening. Therefore all description should be elim- 
inated, and the setting or locality in which the action 
transpires must be made clear by a phrase here, an 
explanatory clause there. This is exactly what is done 
in the folk tale, where a few skillful touches give a 
graphic picture of the scene through which the char- 
acters move. Thus we find in some of the great racial 
tales such bits as these : "In a lonely valley in China" ; 
"Far up in the north country on a snow-covered moun- 
tain peak" ; "In a forest bright as a rainbow with frost 
painted autumn leaves." All these are parts of sen- 
tences in which characters are introduced, yet they 
give to the child, who thinks concretely, as definite an 
idea of locality as a paragraph of description. Note 
these vivid touches in some Bible stories: "Naboth the 
Jezreelite had a vineyard, which was in Jezreel, hard 
by the palace of Ahab, king of Samaria"; "And he re- 
moved from thence to a mountain on the east of 
Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west 



88 STORY TELLING 

and Hai on the east ; and there he builded an altar unto 
the Lord." Not an unnecessary phrase is used in any 
of these, yet immediately one visions something of the 
character of the country in which their events transpire. 

The beginner in the field of story-telling will find a 
study of captions or descriptive titles on the screens 
of moving-picture houses very helpful. In fact, many 
of the principles that apply to photoplay construction 
apply also to the work of the oral story-teller, who 
must secure vividness with brevity and completeness 
without nonessentials. 

Elimination of minor or unnecessary incidents.— 
If in the chain of incidents that make the plot thread 
there are those of minor importance, they too should 
be cut away. By incidents of minor importance is 
meant those that are not actually necessary to the tell- 
ing of the tale, even though in the written narrative 
they give emphasis and contribute considerably toward 
characterization. Every happening not necessary to 
make clear to the child why the story ends as it does 
should be cut away, for only by this means can there 
be the simplicity of plot and clear sequence which the 
oral narrative demands. There is a type of tale like 
Epaminondes of the plantation mammy, and "Stupid 
Hans" of Grimm, in which there is practically no plot, 
the entire aim of which is to accentuate stupidity or 
some other characteristic. The charm and value of 
such stories lies in the numerous incidents of the same 
kind. And this is often the case in short, simple nar- 
ratives used to point a moral or specific truth. But 
where there is a plot sufficiently complicated to make 



CONDENSATION 89 

it gripping, numerous incidents tend to confuse. There- 
fore, unless each dovetails naturally into the succeed- 
ing one and contributes something to it or to the final 
outcome of the story, it should be cut away, although 
in itself it may be a very charming or moving incident. 
As she cuts or prunes some classic for oral use, the 
story-teller should remember that by this process she 
is bringing the beautiful original within the enjoyment 
of the child. For the boy or girl who has been held 
fascinated by a plot will listen eagerly afterward to the 
reading of that story, or will read it for himself, there- 
by coming into appreciation of the beauty of style and 
expression of the master he might never acquire had 
he not been introduced to it previously through the 
medium of a condensed story. 

In some stories several incidents, each of equal im- 
portance, not dependent upon each other but con- 
tributing toward the final outcome of the plot, are used 
to indicate some pertinent vice or virtue, such as weak- 
ness, generosity, gratitude, faithfulness, or untruthful- 
ness; or to indicate failure or success. In this event, 
where one incident alone would make the characteris- 
tic apparent, and the series serves only to emphasize 
it, choose the one that is most appealing to you, and 
with that one bring the truth home to the child. This 
method is far preferable to that of using several inci- 
dents, for the employment of a series of independent 
events tends to deviate the hearer's attention from the 
main plot thread. 

Elimination of characters. — Eliminate characters 
as well as incidents, the secondary, unimportant person- 



90 STORY TELLING 

ages that often heighten the local color and charm of 
the written narrative, but that do not contribute any- 
thing toward its action and climax. The process of 
elimination thus resolves itself into the cutting away of 
description, of irrelevant or unnecessary events and 
unnecessary characters. As suggested before, the ex- 
planatory phrase or sentence as the characters are in- 
troduced indicates where the action transpires, and if 
it shifts to a locality that affects the destinies of the 
personages and has an influence upon the final outcome 
of the plot, another bit of explanation or side remark 
will be all that is required to bring a picture of the 
new region to the mind of the child. As a great French 
story-teller said not long ago: "Strip the tale bare to 
its plot thread. Then reclothe it as Worth or Paquin 
robes a lovely woman, using no garment for itself, 
but because each fold of chiffon and strip of lace or 
satin serves to accentuate the beauty and charm of 
the wearer." 

Unifying the story. — After elimination and con- 
densation is complete the next step is unifying the 
story. This is very important, for after much ma- 
terial has been cut away some artistry is necessary in 
welding the remainder into form again, lest it be dis- 
connected and jumbled instead of smooth and finished. 
The beginner at adaptation work will do well to write 
the revised version, for the written form reveals crudi- 
ties the novice might overlook otherwise. The con- 
densed tale should be as smooth and flowing as the 
original, and a little practice will enable one to inter- 
polate a phrase here and a word there so as to bridge 



CONDENSATION 91 

over the gap caused by the elimination of a page or 
paragraph. The story must not sound "as if it has 
holes in it," as a small boy once said about a tale he 
had heard given by a beginner at condensation work. 
After a few trials the writing will not be necessary, 
for practice will give facility and a sense of perspec- 
tive that will enable one to connect and unify while 
working orally. But the beginner should not attempt 
to reshape material without writing it. 

Rearranging a story. — More difficult than condensa- 
tion, but just as necessary an equipment for the story- 
teller is rearranging a tale, to twist it so the middle or 
end of the written narrative becomes the beginning of 
the spoken one. Yet the mastery of a few principles 
makes it not beyond the accomplishment of any worker 
with children. For this, as for condensation, it is 
necessary to analyze the story to determine where the 
plot begins, and to roughly outline the action as it 
moves toward the climax, remembering that not every 
story opens with the beginning of the plot. Sometimes 
it begins with the middle and sometimes with the end 
and works back to the beginning. But the oral nar- 
rator must begin with the logical starting point, and 
usually with the leading character, because any other 
method brings less vivid pictures to the child. 

If this thought is borne in mind, once the logical 
starting point is determined, rearrangement is no more 
difficult for the beginner than condensation. 

One of the loveliest of all the Bible stories is that of 
Ruth. To the little child and to the gray-haired man 
it is equally appealing, and when the entire book of 



92 STORY TELLING 

Ruth is condensed and simplified so as to be within 
the understanding of very young boys and girls, its 
beauty and sweetness makes an impression upon them 
that they do not forget. Prepared to tell to primary 
children it would read something like this : 

Ages and ages ago, in a land called Canaan, people 
were suffering because of a famine. A famine is a 
time of very little food, when there are no harvests 
to gather and everybody is hungry for days and weeks. 
Many different things may cause a famine. Some- 
times crops dry up and die because very little rain 
falls. Sometimes a flood sweeps over a country and 
destroys them. And sometimes they are eaten by in- 
sects. The people of Canaan were starving and dying, 
for everybody suffers in a time of famine, even the 
rich. But the poor suffer most, because they never 
have enough money to buy food from those who have 
it. So they must either starve or go away. ' 

Because they could see nothing else to do, some of 
the people of Canaan left their homes and went to the 
land of Moab, where there was food for all. Among 
these was a man named Elimelech, who had a wife and 
two sons, Mahlon and Chilion. 

Soon after reaching Moab Elimelech died, and his 
wife Naomi was left alone with her boys. They must 
have felt very sad and forsaken in a country of 
strangers, but because they could get no food in their 
own land they could not go back. But the people were 
kind to them in their sorrow, and by and by they be- 
gan to feel at home. The sons each married a woman 
of the Moabites. One of these was named Orpah and 
the other was called Ruth, and they and Naomi dwelt 
together and were happy. 

Years passed, years of peace and pleasure for the 
family of Elimelech. Then Death knocked at the 
door. Mahlon and Chilion were taken, and again 



CONDENSATION 93 

Naomi was left alone, this time with the wives of her 
sons. 

Then she thought longingly of Caanan, where her 
people dwelt. She wanted to go back and live among 
those of her own blood, and one day word came that 
made her know she could go. God had sent abundant 
crops to Canaan's hills and plains. The wheat and 
barley harvests were heavier than ever they had been 
before. The famine time was over and days of plenty 
had come. 

Naomi loved her daughters-in-law very much, and 
they loved her. But she felt she ought not to ask them 
to leave their own country and kindred, for she knew 
they would be lonely and sad in a strange land, even 
as she had been when first she went to Moab. So she 
said to them: "Return each of you to your mother's 
house; and the Lord deal kindly with you, as ye have 
dealt with the dead, and with me." 

By these words she meant that the two women had 
been so good to her dead sons and to her that God 
would surely reward them. 

Ruth and Orpah wept at Naomi's words, for they 
loved her so much they could not bear to think of part- 
ing from her. Orpah kissed her good-by and started 
back to her own mother's house. But Ruth would not 
go. She clung to Naomi's hand and said, "Entreat me 
not to leave thee, or to return from following after 
thee ; for whither thou goest, I will go, and where thou 
lodgest, I will lodge ; thy people shall be my people, and 
thy God my God." 

This was another way of saying: "Do not send me 
away. I want to go wherever you go and to live where 
you live. I want your people to be my people and your 
Qod shall be my God." 

Do you think anybody could have sent Ruth away 
when she begged and wept so? Naomi did not send 
her. She let her go along, and after many days' travel 



94 STORY TELLING 

they came to Bethlehem, the place that had been 
Naomi's home. It was very lovely then, for it was 
summer time, and just at the beginning of the barley 
harvest. 

Because they had little money Ruth said to Naomi, 
"Let me go and glean in the grain fields to get food for 
both of us." "Go, my daughter," was Naomi's answer. 
So Ruth went to a field that belonged to a man named 
Boaz, who was a kinsman of Naomi, and so rich that 
he had much land and many men-servants and hand- 
maidens. Men-servants and handmaidens are people 
who work for somebody else. 

One day as Ruth was gleaning among the grain 
heads, Boaz came into the field and saw her. 

"Whose damsel is this?" he said to the servant who 
was watching over the reapers. 

The man told him she was a woman of the Moabites 
who had come back with Naomi. 

Now, Boaz had heard the story of her devotion to 
Naomi, how she had left her father, mother, and the 
land of her birth to go with the lonely woman. As he 
looked into her sweet face and clear eyes he knew all 
the good that had been said of her was true. He 
wanted to reward her as she deserved to be rewarded, 
so he told some of his men-servants to pull barley 
stalks out of the bundles and scatter them in her way, 
that her work might not be so hard. Ruth was so 
thankful when she found Boaz was making it easy for 
her to find grain to glean that she seemed more sweet 
and good than ever. Day after day she toiled in the 
corn and barley fields until the end of the harvest. At 
meal time she sat with the other reapers and ate of the 
parched corn that was their food. And every night she 
went back to the house of Naomi. 

Now, it happened that the field in which Ruth was 
gleaning had belonged to Naomi's husband, Elimelech, 
who lost it during the famine time. Naomi began to 



CONDENSATION 95 

wonder how she might redeem it, or get it back for 
herself and Ruth, for it was a custom in those days, 
that if a man lost his home or anything that he owned, 
after he died some kinsman, brother, uncle, cousin, or 
even second cousin, must, if he could, buy it back for 
his wife and children. So she sent Ruth to Boaz to 
see if they might obtain this field, and to tell him that 
he was her kinsman, for in some way it happened that 
he did not know it. Perhaps his father was Naomi's 
father's great-uncle, and nobody had ever thought to 
tell him anything about it. Perhaps he was the son of 
her second or third cousin. We do not know how they 
were related, for they were of such very distant kin 
that Boaz himself did not know it. But because he 
was a good man he wanted to do what was right. He 
said to her, ''Tell Naomi that there is a kinsman nearer 
than I. If he will not do the part of a kinsman, then 
will I do it." He meant that he would redeem the field 
for Naomi if the other man did not. 

Early the next morning Boaz went to the gate of 
the city and sat down. Soon Naomi's other kinsman 
came by, and they talked about the field. 

"If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it," Boaz said, "but 
if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me that I may 
know, for there is none to redeem it beside thee, and 
I am after thee." 

They went over everything that would have to be 
done. The barley field was worth a great deal of 
money, so the other man said he could not redeem it, 
because he was poor. 

He drew off his shoe and handed it to Boaz. 

"Redeem thou the field," he said. 

Boaz took the shoe, and called out in a voice so loud 
that all who were passing might hear: "Ye are wit- 
nesses that I have this day redeemed the field that be- 
longed to the husband of Naomi." 

That was a way of saying that he promised the peo- 



96 STORY TELLING 

pie of the city to do what was right by his kinswoman. 
The passing of a shoe from one to the other was a way 
they had in those days of binding a promise. 

Boaz kept his word. The field of her husband went 
back to Naomi, and she was no longer a poor woman 
who had to toil for her bread. 

But that was not all. He made another promise that 
day as he sat by the gate. He said he would take Ruth, 
the Moabite, to be his wife, for he had been so pleased 
by her beauty and sweet ways as he had watched her 
in the fields that he wanted to have her with him 
always. 

So the woman who had left her country to keep an- 
other woman from being sad was married to the owner 
of the fields. Never again did she need to glean among 
the corn and barley stalks as one of the handmaidens, 
but lived like a princess in the great house of a rich, 
good man. Naomi dwelt with them in their beautiful 
home, and years of contentment and happiness for all 
three of them passed in the pleasant land of Canaan. 

Thought Questions 

i. What is the difference between giving a reading 
and telling a story ? 

2. What is the first step in condensing a story? 

3. What material should be eliminated from a story 
in condensing it ? 

4. What do you understand by unifying a story? 

5. How would you proceed to rearrange a story? 

Assignment 

Condense and prepare for telling to a group of 
Primary children the story of Isaac and Rebekah, 
Genesis 24. 1-67. 

Condense and prepare for telling to a group of Be- 
ginners the story of Samuel, 1 Samuel, chapters 1-3. 



CHAPTER VII 
PRACTICE IN ELABORATION 

Ability to amplify a qualification of the story- 
teller. — Sometimes it happens that an incident contains 
a lesson the child should learn, and is so dramatic that 
within it lie elements of a splendid story, but is too 
condensed in form, too meager in detail, and too ex- 
planatory in diction to be a tale for telling. In such a 
case amplification is necessary, and ability to amplify 
can be acquired by every story-teller, even though not 
to such a degree as to make him famous. The man 
or woman of mediocre talent will not become a de 
Maupassant or Daudet because he takes a course in 
short-story writing; nor can he hope to qualify as a 
narrator of the power of Scheherazade, no matter how 
much he studies the principles of construction and de- 
livery. That elusive, undefinable thing which we call 
genius is the line of demarcation between those ordi- 
narily endowed and those supremely gifted, and only 
the latter can mount the highest peaks of artistic suc- 
cess. But anyone can learn to amplify and build 
stories from bare anecdotes that will be enjoyed by a 
child. 

This ability to amplify is especially necessary to 
those who will tell Bible stories to children, because in 
both the Old and the New Testament it often happens 
that two or three verses contain the nucleus of an ab- 

97 



98 STORY TELLING 

sorbing story, provided implied details are supplied 
and the situations invested with sufficient local color 
to make them realistic. Take, for instance, Genesis 
37. 1-3. Here is the framework of a very charming 
story, that of the son who was so dear to his father 
that he fashioned for him a coat of many colors. But 
to tell to the little child the bare plot outline given in 
these verses will make not much of an impression up- 
on him. The picture needs to be vivified by supplying 
everything that is implied. The worker in the Be- 
ginner's and Primary Departments must realize that 
the little people under her tutelage are living in a nar- 
row environment. Their knowledge is extremely lim- 
ited because their experience has been limited. They 
are interested chiefly in the home circle, in their pets, 
and in the beings that have been part of their experi- 
ence. Consequently, their imaginations do not range 
far afield, and they cannot, in fancy, supply the back- 
ground that makes the story real. The characters must 
be brought to them and shown in conditions parallel to 
those that they know, or the conditions under which 
the story folk lived must be shown in such contrast to 
the ones with which the child is familiar that they will 
be very real to him. Take for instance the beginning 
of the story of Joseph's coat told in this way: 

"Long ago and in a far away land there lived a 
father whose name was Jacob. He had a little son 
named Joseph, and because the little boy needed a 
home in which to live, food to eat, and clothes to wear 
his father worked every day to get these things for 
him. But Jacob did other things for his boy besides 



ELABORATION 99 

work for him. Joseph needed to know what things 
were right for him to do, and how he could please 
God, his heavenly Father. These things his father 
taught him. As he grew older Jacob taught him also 
how to handle tools and do as much as a boy could of 
the work that needed to be done. ,, 

In this way a child like the child who hears the story 
is brought before him, one who has had the same strug- 
gles, the same effort to learn the things that little peo- 
ple must learn, and immediately the boy or girl to 
whom the tale is given feels a sense of kinship. Then, 
with his interest in the living, breathing Joseph aroused, 
how splendid is the incident of the beautiful coat, and 
how much enjoyed when they come to it in the story! 
This is a good rule to guide the inexperienced worker 
in amplifying a tale; supply enough details that are 
warranted to make the characters live under conditions 
sufficiently familiar to the children to make them feel 
kinship with them. Make the environment of the story 
people very like their own, or very unlike it, and em- 
phasize the contrast. This sometimes necessitates con- 
siderable reading and study before one is equipped to 
supply the background. In order to amplify the Bible 
stories it means familiarity with the customs of Bible 
times, and not infrequently necessitates reading back- 
ward through many chapters to the very beginning of 
the thread of a story. But it pays, for without it many 
a story cannot be put into form that will deeply impress 
the children, and to tell a story, and feel with the telling 
that the children who hear it are drinking it in hungrily 
is one of the really gratifying things in life. 



ioo STORY TELLING 

Analysis the first step in amplification. — Just as in 
condensing or rearranging a tale, in amplifying one we 
begin with an analysis and visualization of the plot. 
Then we proceed to clothe it, as the Frenchman said, 
so that all of its beauty and charm is accentuated. De- 
termine what details are implied and then supply them 
so as to cover the skeleton and round it out in a com- 
plete, finished way. This does not mean supplying un- 
warranted fictitious details or interpolating matter 
that is irrelevant and serves no other purpose than to 
pad and lengthen the tale. It means introducing what- 
ever, according to the laws of logic, must have occurred 
between the beginning of the story and the climax. 

This is exactly what has been done in the amplifica- 
tion of the first three verses of the thirty-seventh chap- 
ter of Genesis. It is only logical to suppose that Israel 
must have shown to Joseph just the kind of solicitous 
love and care indicated. And whatever it is logical to 
suppose must have occurred, if it will make the 
pictures more vivid, may safely be introduced. 

Take as an example the story of Mephibosheth, 2 
Samuel 4.4; 9. 1-13. Here is the plot outline of a 
gripping tale for children whose imaginations have be- 
gun to revel in fairy tale happenings, but which do not 
yet range far enough abroad that they can see details 
that are merely implied. The idea of a little boy whose 
father was a prince and whose grandfather was a king 
appeals to them instantly. It is but logical to suppose 
that for his day, Mephibosheth must have had the pretty 
things that in every period of history have been a part 
of the lot of children of royalty. Therefore why not 



ELABORATION 101 

supply such details as will make the child see him as 
he was, the loved scion of a line of kings? After the 
accident, and the discovery that the little prince had 
become lame, and had lost the beautiful home in which 
he had played so happily, sympathy is aroused to its 
highest pitch. And then how delightful it all is in the 
end, when he comes into his own again and is a prince 
in condition as well as in name and blood. No fairy 
tale is more appealing in the age of fairy tale lore 
than this narrative of the son of Jonathan. 

This story may be handled in several ways. If the 
object of the teller is to emphasize the idea of God's 
care for his children, and to show how, through 
David's generosity, Mephibosheth comes into posses- 
sion of all the things he had lost, the story would begin 
with a picture of the boy in the palace of his father*. 

A Little Lame Prince 

Long, long ago, in a land far east of this, there was 
a little prince. His name was Mephibosheth, and he 
lived in a fine palace, for his father was a prince and 
his grandfather was a king, and very likely his mother 
was a princess. Everybody loved him, and he was 
happy in his beautiful home with all the pets a little 
boy could want and the curious toys that children of 
the East had in the days of long ago. Probably one of 
them was a tiny chariot, for there were no carriages 
or automobiles then and everybody who was rich 
enough to ride rode in a chariot, which looked some- 
thing like a box open at the back and mounted upon 
two wheels. But when they were painted a bright, 
shining red and trimmed with gold flowers and bands 
and went speeding along behind fleet horses they looked 



102 STORY TELLING 

very splendid, and kings took great pleasure in riding 
in chariots. So, of course, the little boys must have 
had toy chariots to play with, and probably Mephib- 
osheth had several. And what a good time he must 
have had riding in them about the palace ! 

But one day a sad thing happened. His father and 
grandfather were killed in a war. People came run- 
ning to the palace to tell the little boy's nurse about it, 
and they said that the soldiers who had killed the king 
and his son were coming to take the palace. 

The good nurse was terribly frightened. Mephib- 
osheth was only five years old, and she knew that with 
no father or grandfather to take care of him he might 
be hurt or killed. She loved him so much that she 
could not bear to think of any evil thing happening to 
him, and made up her mind to save him if she could. 

"I will take him away to a safe place," she thought. 

So she picked him up and started to run. She could 
hear the soldiers coming and wanted to get far from 
the palace before they reached it. 

She ran and ran. Closer, closer came the soldiers, 
and faster, faster she hurried. She had almost reached 
a place where the little prince would be safe, and then 
— a dreadful thing happened. She dropped Mephibo- 
sheth on the hard, rough ground. 

She did not mean to do it. She loved him and 
wanted to take care of him, you know. But when a 
boy is only five years old he is not big and strong. The 
fall hurt him terribly. It bruised his feet and legs and 
hurt him so much that it made him lame. 

The poor nurse felt very sorry, and when the little 
boy cried, her heart ached as much as his feet did. 

She picked him up again and hugged him close. 

"My little Mephibosheth !" she said. 

Then she ran on as fast as she could go. 

By and by she came to a place where she knew he 
would be safe. There she stayed and kept him, and 



ELABORATION 103 

there the little boy grew into a big one. But his feet 
never got well again. He was always a lame prince, 
always one who had to go limping wherever he needed 
to go. He could not jump and run and play games 
like other boys. He could not swim in the cool water 
or do any of the things his strong young friends could 
do. When they had merry times he had to sit a little 
way off and watch them and wish that his own feet 
were straight and strong. 

He did not have fine clothes any more, for when the 
soldiers took the palace they took all his father's money 
and pretty things too. Instead of being rich he was 
poor. Sometimes he did not have enough to eat to 
keep him from going hungry. He must have thought 
very often about the glad days when he lived in the 
palace and his father and grandfather were with him. 

A long time passed. Then one day a lovely thing 
happened. 

A very good king was ruling over the country. His 
name was David, and the people loved him. But 
David had not always been a king. Once he was a 
poor shepherd boy who had to stay in the hills and take 
care of his father's sheep. In the days when he 
watched over the gentle lambs he had learned to be 
kind and tender, and now that he was a great ruler 
he wanted to be the shepherd of his people as once he 
had been of his father's flocks. He tried to find a way 
of helping all who needed help. 

King David had a servant who had worked in the 
palace of Prince Jonathan when Mephibosheth was a 
happy little boy, so, of course, he knew a great deal 
about everybody in the prince's family. 

One day King David called this man and said to him, 
"Did Prince Jonathan have any sons or grandsons that 
I can show a kindness to?" 

The servant answered, "Yes, Prince Jonathan left a 
son Mephibosheth, who is lame." 



104 STORY TELLING 

"Go and fetch him," the king said. 

The servant went away from the palace, and a little 
while later when he came back, Mephibosheth was with 
him. The poor lame boy was very much frightened 
to hear that the king wanted to see him, and as he 
came limping into the great hall his face was white 
with fear. 

"I hope he will not hurt me," he thought. He knew 
that he had done no wrong, yet sometimes in those far 
off days kings punished people who did not deserve it. 

Do you think David was the kind of a king to do 
anything so wicked? No, indeed! He said to him: 
"I will give back to you all the lands and gold of your 
father, which the soldiers took away from you. For 
you must know that I loved your father very much," 

Then for a moment King David sat very still and a 
sad look came into his face. He was thinking about 
Prince Jonathan and the happy days when they were 
young together. 

"Yes, I loved him," he said, "and so I love you, his 
son. You shall live here in the palace with me. 
You shall sit beside me at the table and be even as my 
own son." 

He told his servants to get fine clothes for Mephibo- 
sheth to wear and a gold chain to hang around his 
neck. He gave him a chariot and fleet horses, and 
whenever the lame prince drove through the streets of 
the city the people said, "See! The son of Prince 
Jonathan, whom David the king loves!" 

So Mephibosheth was a happy prince once more, 
even though he was lame. 

If the aim of the story-teller is to use this tale as one 
of a cycle of stories of David, the beginning may be 
with the picture of the king in an hour of loneliness in 
the palace dreaming of his boyhood among the sheep, 



ELABORATION 105 

of his friendship with Jonathan, and then lead back to 
the story of Jonathan's son. In that event the approach 
would be something like this : 

David, the shepherd boy, who had watched his 
father's sheep, was a great king now. He lived in a 
palace and had chariots and horses, servants and houses 
and lands. But he still remembered the glad days 
among the hills of Bethlehem when he had played with 
the lambs. And very often, when he was alone, he 
sang the shepherd songs he used to sing as he led the 
flocks to green pastures. He thought, too, of his friend 
Prince Jonathan, King Saul's son, whom he had loved 
as a brother. Both Jonathan and his father were dead 
now, killed in battle on a hill called Gilboa. 

"I wonder if Jonathan has any sons living that I can 
be kind to," David thought one day as he lived over the 
old times. 

He called a servant who had once been with King 
Saul, and who knew all about the dead ruler's family. 
He told the man to tell him all he knew about them. 

"Yes," the man answered, "Prince Jonathan has a 
son who is called Mephibosheth. He is lame, and lives 
in the house of a man named Machir. 

"A lame son?" King David answered. 

"Yes," the man said. "It is a sad story, how 
Mephibosheth came to have crippled feet. It happened 
the day Prince Jonathan and King Saul were killed. 
Mephibosheth was in the palace of his father with his 
nurse. When word came that the king and his son 
had fallen in battle this woman was very much afraid. 
She feared they might hurt the boy, for he was only 
five years old, and too little to take care of himself. 
So she picked him up and ran with him, for she wanted 
to get him to a safe place. But a very sad thing hap- 
pened as she hurried along. She dropped him, and the 
fall hurt both his feet so much that it made him lame." 



106 STORY TELLING 

From this point continue the story as in the previous 
version and tell of David's sending for the son of 
Jonathan and give the succeeding events. It is obvious 
that the first version is the better one to use with be- 
ginners, because it contains direct discourse, and very 
young children can follow it more easily. Therefore 
they will like it better. In the latter part of the pri- 
mary period, however, the second version will be en- 
joyed by them. It is well for the student to note what 
constitutes the difference between the two versions, 
and to bear in mind that direct discourse is the style 
of narrative in which all stories for very little children 
should be told. It is permissible for the story-teller 
to use indirect discourse in working with little children 
only when through some previously heard story they 
have become acquainted with the characters that are 
portrayed. Then, by beginning with one that has al- 
ready become a friend, one may safely lead back from 
that character to some event. Soon after they come 
to Sunday school children learn to know David the 
shepherd boy, and will enjoy the story of Mephibosheth 
even though it is given as supplementary to that of the 
greatest of Hebrew kings. 

From these examples it will be seen that many an 
incident may be amplified into a tale for telling if im- 
plied details are supplied. But only that which it is 
logical to suppose must have occurred should be in- 
troduced. 

Another of the many incidents from the Bible that 
can be amplified into a very lovely story for the child 
is that of Onesimus in the epistle of Paul to Philemon, 



ELABORATION 107 

the tale of a slave in Colossae who steals some of the 
belongings of his master and flees to Rome. There, 
through the eloquence of Paul the apostle, he is con- 
verted to Christianity and comes to be very much loved 
by Paul. With regeneration accomplished by the word 
of Jesus comes an eagerness to make restitution to the 
master he has robbed. He returns to Philemon, no 
longer the embittered bondman, but the submissive, 
willing servant. And as he goes he bears a letter from 
the apostle beseeching Philemon to receive him "as a 
brother beloved/' 

In this incident we find all the elements of a story, 
one that will lead the child to see the futility of at- 
tempting to shirk obligations, the transforming power 
of the Christ in a life, and the splendid tolerance and 
charity of Paul. The picture of the slave to whom 
life was hard and gray will immediately awaken a feel- 
ing of pity, if that slave is brought before the children 
like a creature of flesh and blood. He might be intro- 
duced in this way : 

In a far away land a long, long time ago, there lived 
a man who was a slave. A slave is a person who be- 
longs to another, just as his dog or cow belongs to him, 
who must work day in and day out and never get any 
pay for his work, no matter how much he does. It 
is very hard to be a slave, for slaves are nearly 
always tired, and they never have nice homes, pretty 
clothes, or good things to eat. 

One day this slave was looking at the beautiful things 
that belonged to his master. There were sacks of 
money, gold and silver dishes, diamonds and all kinds 
of jewels, and splendid clothes. 

"How I wish they were mine !" he thought. 



108 STORY TELLING 

Once a clear picture is painted of the slave, the con- 
ditions under which he lived and his deep longing for 
freedom and a happier life, his career will be followed 
with eager interest, and it is easy to carry the child 
along with him through the flight to Rome, the con- 
version there and the return to Colossse, and to im- 
press upon him as he listens the great lesson the narra- 
tive teaches. 

If this story is intended for beginners, it should be 
made short and simple, a bare outline of the plot and 
sufficient explanatory touches to delineate the charac- 
ters being all that should be attempted, the theory being 
that the younger the children the less complex should 
be the narratives given to them. With primary pupils 
there can be more comprehensive explanatory and at- 
mospheric touches and a more delicate etching of the 
pictures. For them this incident works well into a 
series of stories about Onesimus, the divisions of 
which would be as follows : 

i. The Slave Who Ran Away. 

2. Onesimus and the Good Teacher. 

3. The Return of the Runaway. 

In order to develop a series of stories considerable 
elaboration is necessary, but this does not mean that 
there is to be padding that serves no other purpose than 
to lengthen the tale. The condensed version for be- 
ginners requires only that the plot thread, personages, 
and conditions be made clear. In the series a detailed 
picture can be painted of the country in which 
Onesimus lived, of the plight of the slave there, the 
contrasting luxury and comfort of the master, the deep 



ELABORATION 109 

envy of the bondman and his yearning for liberty. 
In the account of Onesimus and Paul some idea should 
be given of Rome in its magnificence, the wickedness 
of the people, and the simplicity and beauty of life of 
the men of the early Christian Church, that gleams 
against the corruption like a white flame of purifica- 
tion. And after the children have seen the redemp- 
tion of the thief and the rebellious slave turned will- 
ingly submissive, they should see the affectionate fare- 
well of the apostle and the departure of Onesimus 
from the Eternal City by the ship that will carry 
him back to the shore from whence he fled. 

Thus it will be seen that by supplying details that are 
implied many an incident may be amplified into a story 
for telling. But the student should remember that this 
means only that which it is logical to suppose must 
have happened or have been the condition under which 
the character or characters lived. It does not mean 
license to introduce unwarranted fictitious details. 
The skeleton of the plot indicated, it is not difficult to 
round it out, for one needs only to visualize the set- 
ting and characters and portray them as he sees them, 
and to interpolate something of the conversation that is 
likely to have occurred. This suggests itself once we 
have come to see and to feel the pictures. Dialogue is 
a very great aid in making situations vivid and charac- 
ters alive to the child. Therefore the story-teller 
should not be parsimonious about employing it freely, 
either in amplification or in simple retelling. 

If the imagination is called into full play, if the vis- 
ualizing has been clear before one attempts any am- 



no STORY TELLING 

plification, it is not difficult to develop well-rounded 
and well-proportioned stories from bare outlines. 
What must have been the condition of life of 
Philemon? What were the possessions of prosperous 
men in the land of Phrygia in those days ? What must 
have been the thoughts of the slave in seeing and feel- 
ing the contrast between their positions? What must 
have been the emotional effect upon Onesimus when 
his conversion gave him finer ideals and beliefs than 
those he had held, and he realized he was a thief and 
malefactor? What must have been the attitude of 
Paul, the apostle of Him whose creed was love and 
forgiveness, upon learning the remorse of the slave 
and the conditions that had caused him to sin? The 
measure of success in elaborating this or any other 
story depends upon the free play of the imagination 
and the vividness with which one can see the slave, the 
master, the Phrygian land, Rome, the place of corrup- 
tion and splendor, and the glorified follower of Jesus 
who was working there. This will entail considerable 
reference work. It means consulting a history of 
Rome of the days of Paul for a clear picture of Rome. 
It means reading at least an encyclopaedia account of 
Phrygia, the country in which Colossse was located, and 
in getting a definite idea of the setting of the tale. It 
requires time and effort, but the labor of preparing 
the material melts into insignificance beside satisfac- 
tion in the results obtained, and the willingness to do 
it differentiates the artist from the indifferent and slip- 
shod craftsman. 



ELABORATION in 

Thought Questions 

1. Why is the ability to amplify material necessary 
to the story-teller? 

2. Why is it necessary to supply whatever is im- 
plied in telling stories to little children ? 

3. What is the first step in amplification? 

4. What difference should there be between stories 
intended for beginners and those for primary pupils? 

5. Upon what does success in amplification depend? 

Assignment 

Prepare for telling to children in the Primary De- 
partment the story of Onesimus, making the incident 
as given in Philemon the basis of a series of three 
stories. 

Prepare for telling to beginners the story of Abram 
Giving Lot the First Choice, Genesis 13. 5-1 1. 



CHAPTER VIII 

PRACTICE IN BEGINNINGS, CLIMAXES, AND 

ENDINGS 

Variety in beginnings. — The creative artist is a 
versatile individual, a personage who is not hampered 
by one form of execution or medium of expression. 
Mastery of many strokes and lines gives the painter 
facility to portray upon canvas whatever scenes or 
figures formalize in his mind, so that if he visions a 
shepherd with his flocks and dogs it is not beyond his 
power to create that shepherd because he knows how 
to draw only horses. Likewise the writer can etch his 
word pictures in numerous different forms, and the 
story-teller who is worthy of the name must be able to 
introduce and sustain his narrative in various ways 
and not be restricted by one stock tale as a model upon 
which all tales must be constructed. Even little chil- 
dren quickly discover if the mother or teacher always 
tells stories in the same way and welcome a narrator 
who has something different. Proof of this fact was 
given to me several years ago when an Indian story 
was told to a group of seven-year-olds. It was the 
twenty-third of February, and knowing they had heard 
anecdotes of George Washington and that they had 
made hatchet and cherry-tree posters, the story-teller 
began, "Before your great-great-grandmother was 

112 



BEGINNING, CLIMAX, AND END 113 

born, so long ago that George Washington was just a 
tiny baby and didn't know a cherry tree from a bunch 
of clover." As the tale was finished a grunt of satis- 
faction came from a little brown-eyed fellow, who ex- 
claimed: "My, but that was a nice story! Teacher 
don't know any but long, long-ago ones." 

A beginning different from the accustomed one had 
increased his pleasure in the narrative, for although 
we do not always realize it, children are very exacting 
critics. They are quite as quick as adults to prefer the 
story-teller who uses a variety of beginnings to the one 
whose yarns are always introduced in the same way. 
"Once upon a time," and "Long, long ago," are magi- 
cal words to a child, but so are "In the days of long 
ago." "There was once a beautiful valley," "Far away 
across the ocean lived a boy named Hans," and a dozen 
other clauses the skillful narrator can use for her in- 
troductory one. Let the children see that you have 
more than one way of opening a story and you will 
become in their eyes a more wonderful person than she 
who, as the little boy said, "knows only long, long-ago 
ones." 

The best guide for practice in beginnings is a copy 
of Grimm, Andersen, Perrault, Bechstein, or any other 
collection of folk tales. Cast as these are in a form 
that is as appealing now as it was in the early morning 
of the world, they are models of story openings that 
will grip a child. Take, for instance, these from a col- 
lection of Russian folk tales : 

"In a certain country there lived an old couple who 
had a daughter named Marusia." "Once there was an 



ii4 STORY TELLING 

old man who was such an awful drunkard as passes all 
description." "A bad wife lived on the worst of terms 
with her husband and never paid any attention to what 
he said." "A certain woman was very bumptious." 
"In a little village there was a rich merchant named 
Marko, and a stingier fellow never lived." "In the 
olden years long, long ago, there came upon the world 
distress and shame." 

Any collection of folk tales will offer a large variety 
of beginnings, and the greater the versatility of the 
narrator in opening his stories the more pronounced 
will his success be. 

Follow the study of beginnings of masterpieces in 
the general field with an observation of openings of 
Bible stories, and consider how effectively theme, 
characters, and locality are introduced in these: "There 
was a man named Zacchseus, which was chief among 
the publicans, and he was rich" ; "There was in a city 
a judge which feared not God, neither regarded man" ; 
"And it came to pass, on the second Sabbath after the 
first, that he went through the corn fields, and his 
disciples plucked the ears of corn and did eat, rubbing 
them in their hands"; "And it came to pass after 
these things, that Naboth the Jezreelite had a vine- 
yard, which was in Jezreel, hard by the palace of 
Ahab, King of Samaria"; "And he removed from 
thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and 
pitched his tent, having Bethel on the west and Hai 
on the east; and there he builded an altar unto the 
Lord." 

"And it came to pass, in the ninth year of his reign, 



BEGINNING, CLIMAX, AND END 115 

in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, 
that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and 
all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against 
it; and they built forts against it round about" 
(2 Kings 25. 1). 

A modernized beginning for this Bible story would 
be: 

"A king named Zedekiah was ruling over the land of 
Judah, and in the ninth year of his reign Nebuchad- 
nezzar, King of Babylon, came with an army to make 
war upon him. He set his soldiers around the city 
of Jerusalem and built forts upon every side." 

Introducing characters and setting in beginnings- 
— To begin a story so it catches and holds the interest 
of the audience requires more than versatility in the 
opening sentence. Added to this must be ability to in- 
troduce in the first paragraph the characters, or some 
of them, to give an idea of the traits of one or more of 
them, or to set a problem around which the tale is built. 
This is done in all the childhood favorites, "Red Riding 
Hood," "Cinderella," "Sleeping Beauty," and the great 
company of fairy narratives. It is done in the works 
of Josephus, in the immortal legends of the Middle 
Ages, in the Bible, and in every other piece of litera- 
ture that has been a power among people who were 
children at heart, and to which the masters of to-day 
are going for help in their efforts to reach the child 
consciousness. Note this beginning of a popular Mus- 
covite tale : 

"A bad wife lived on the worst of terms with her 
husband and never paid any attention to what he said. 



n6 STORY TELLING 

If he told her to get up early she would lie in bed three 
days at a stretch. If he wanted her to go to sleep she 
couldn't think of sleeping, and when he asked her to 
make pancakes she would say, 'You clown, you don't 
deserve a pancake/ " 

A very clear conception of the character of the wife 
is obtained from this one paragraph, and immediately 
the mind of the hearer sets to working and wondering 
about what will happen to this bad and stubborn 
woman. 

From the eleventh chapter of the ninth book of 
Josephus we have, "Now when Zechariah, the son of 
Jeroboam, had reigned six months over Israel, he was 
slain by the treachery of a certain friend of his, whose 
name was Shallu, the son of Jabesh, who took the 
kingdom afterward but kept it no more than thirty 
days." Here, again, interest arises with the opening 
sentence and immediately the hearer wonders, "Why 
did he keep it only thirty days?" 

Likewise in the Bible story of Hezekiah, 2 Kings 
20. 1, we find the following introduction of characters 
in the first paragraph : 

"In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And 
the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, came to him and 
said unto him, Thus saith the Lord. Set thine house 
in order, for thou shalt die, and not live." 

Principles involved in beginnings. — One might 
add indefinitely to the list of model beginnings and 
find the same principles involved in every one of them: 

( 1 ) The introductory phrase that gives a vivid word 
picture of either time or characters. 



BEGINNING, CLIMAX, AND END 117 

(2) The setting of a problem or the involving of 
characters in conflict. 

In "The King of the Golden River" the problem 
is set in the first paragraph with the statement that 
Gluck was happy-hearted and kind, whereas Hans and 
Schwartz were so cruel and stingy that they were 
known all about as "The Black Brothers." 

In the Bible story of Jonah, the problem is set in 
the first paragraph: 

"Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah, the 
son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that 
great city, and cry against it ! for their wickedness is 
come up before me." 

In the story of Christ and the Lord's Prayer the 
problem is set in the first paragraph : 

"And it came to pass, that as he was praying in a 
certain place, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, 
teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples to 
pray." And then Jesus helps them to overcome their 
difficulty. 

No matter how many stories we study we find that 
a problem or element of conflict is introduced with the 
beginning of the plot thread, and practice in opening 
stories so as to achieve this result in the first para- 
graph is a necessary part of the narrator's preparation. 

Practice in writing beginnings. — After practicing 
beginnings of retold stories the student should write 
the beginnings of several original ones, even if he has 
no idea of ever telling them, and several beginnings to 
the same story. This practice will give increased fa- 
cility in opening the retold tale and enable him to bring 



n8 STORY TELLING 

his characters upon the stage the moment the curtain 
is lifted. The more original work one does the better 
fitted he is to pass on the value of stories that have 
grown with the race, for by his own efforts to create 
he will come into a deeper appreciation of the perfec- 
tion of tales that had their origin in deep longing and 
desire. More than one student who at first regarded 
original work as something necessary only for those 
who aspired to become writers has expressed gratitude 
for a training in something that was once considered 
irksome, because out of original work had come power 
to recreate instead of just to repeat the stories found 
in books. 

Analysis of climaxes. — For practice in climaxes a 
like study should be made of the climaxes of great 
stories. In what does the climax of each tale lie? 

In Hans Christian Andersen's "Ugly Duckling" the 
climax fe in the discovery that the persecuted little 
creature is a beautiful white swan. In "Tarpeia," as 
retold by Sara Cone Bryant in How to Tell Stories 
for Children, it lies in the part beginning, "The soldier 
lifted high his left arm. 'Take thy reward/ he said, 
and as he spoke he hurled upon her that which he 
wore upon it. Down upon her head crashed — not the 
silver rings of the soldier, but the great brass shield 
he carried in battle. ,, 

In the "Story of Jairus's Daughter" the climax is 
contained in the paragraph where Jesus comes to the 
house, sends the strangers away and says to the mourn- 
ing family, "She is not dead; she sleepeth." 

In the story of Belshazzar's feast the climax lies in 



BEGINNING, CLIMAX, AND END 119 

the last words of the interpretation of Daniel, "God 
hath numbered thy kingdom and finished it," etc. 
(Daniel 5. 26, 27, 28.) 

The climax of a story is the revealment of a secret. 
It is the moment of discovery, the sudden straighten- 
ing of a tangled thread. Because the conflict in the 
story has awakened expectation in the minds of the 
hearers the climax is dramatic — unless it is spoiled 
and weakened by crude handling on the part of the 
teller. The climax must be expressed in simple lan- 
guage without any attempt at high-sounding style. In 
a word, it should be given in something of the manner 
in which a child tells a secret to another child. An 
analysis of climaxes of masterpieces shows that this 
is exactly what is done by all great artists in the field 
of narration, and the more closely the beginner studies 
these the more confident he can be of success. 

Necessity of practice. — Follow the analytical study 
and practice in giving the climaxes of old stories with 
work on original ones, always with the aim of improv- 
ing upon each succeeding effort. This is what differ- 
entiates the artist from the amateur, this painstaking 
care and infinite attention to detail. There are those 
who object, "But working a story over kills life and 
destroys spontaneity!" Instead, it does just the op- 
posite, and tales that seem to have been reeled off are 
often the sixth, tenth or twelfth revision. Jean Web- 
ster's "Daddy Long Legs" sounds like the babbling of 
a naive girl, but Jean Webster's waste basket was filled 
and refilled many times as the first, second, and third 
versions were discarded. Fannie Hurst, often called 



120 STORY TELLING 

"the female O. Henry," is one of the most painstaking 
of authors, sometimes spending an entire day in writ- 
ing and recasting a single paragraph. Mary Austin 
devoted seven years to writing The Land of Little 
Rain, and Booth Tarkington, Mary Roberts Rinehart, 
and many other famous writers attest to the necessity 
of revision and more revision. And what the skilled 
professional finds necessary the amateur cannot afford 
to neglect. She needs to practice upon the construction 
of beginnings, climaxes, and endings and the manner 
of giving them to the child, both the original stories 
she may not tell and the world-old ones she certainly 
will relate. 

A girl who has had remarkable success as a story- 
teller made a scrapbook of three sections, into one of 
which she pasted model beginnings which she clipped 
from magazine stories and old books ; in another model 
climaxes, and in a third model endings. She copies 
these parts from such stories as "Red Riding Hood," 
"The Ugly Duckling," "Cinderella," and whenever she 
finds occasion to construct or adapt material to fit her 
needs she goes to her scrapbook for inspiration and 
guidance, then writes the story, compares the parts 
that are so vital with the model ones, and revises and 
recasts her own work in conformity with the same. 

"It is my treasure house," she said not long ago in 
speaking of it, "and as long as I tell stories I cannot 
afford to be without it." 

Ending the story. — Ending a story means nothing 
more than rounding out and finishing it, once the 
climax has been reached, so that it does not sound 



BEGINNING, CLIMAX, AND END 121 

abrupt and incomplete. Some stories end logically 
with the climax and the addition of another sentence 
tends to blur the picture that should be the final one 
before the vision. The Last Lesson of Alphonse 
Daudet is a good example of a tale of this type, the 
climax being in the words, "And then he wrote high 
up in big letters, 'Vive la France ¥ 

"And he made a little sign with his head, 'That is 
all. Go away F " 

In the Bible story of Belshazzar's feast, the ending 
is thus: 

"In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chal- 
deans slain and Darius the Median took the kingdom." 

In some stories that end in the climax a sentence of 
recapitulation completes the narrative in a manner 
pleasing to the child. "And they say that is why the 
sea is salt." "And that is why the morning glory 
climbs." 

Disposing of characters. — Sometimes, even after 
the climax is reached, there are characters that must 
be disposed of, and in this event the ending consists of 
such sentences or paragraphs as will remove them 
speedily from the scene but not abruptly, using no more 
words than are necessary to do it. 

"So Tarpeia lay buried beneath the reward she 
claimed, and the Sabines marched past her dead body 
into the city she had betrayed." 

The story of the Baby Jesus, as prepared by Miss 
Danielson, 1 ends simply and impressively with: "The 

1 International Closely Graded Lessons. Beginner's Teacher's Text Book 
Part I, Lesson 1 1. 



122 STORY TELLING 

shepherds looked and wondered. They told the angels' 
good news and the song in the sky. All that heard it 
wondered. Mary never forgot what the shepherds 
said. Often she thought of it — the angels' good news 
and the song in the sky. And the shepherds went back 
to their sheep, thanking God for his gift of the little 
Lord Jesus in his crib lined with hay." 

It is necessary to dispose of the shepherds in this 
way, in order to bring the story to a logical ending, for 
the children, knowing they came from the hills, will 
wonder if they stayed by the manger or if they went 
back to their flocks, which they left untcnded, and 
without being told whether they did or not will ex- 
perience a sense of incompleteness. If in doubt as 
to this tell the Christmas story to a group of little 
children without giving this final touch and see how 
quickly they will ask what the shepherds did then. 

Note these simple, but wonderfully effective, end- 
ings of Bible stories : 

"And he dwelt in the wilderness of Paran and his 
mother took him a wife out of the land of Egypt." 

"So David went his way, and Saul returned to his 
place." 

"And the field and the cave that is therein were made 
sure unto Abraham for a possession of a burying place, 
by the sons of Heth." 

"And Isaac brought her unto his mother Sarah's 
tent, and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and 
he loved her; and Isaac was comforted after his 
mother's death." 

"And they went forth and preached everywhere, the 



BEGINNING, CLIMAX, AND END 123 

Lord working with them, and confirming the word 
with signs following/' 

"And no man was able to answer him a word; 
neither durst any man from that day forth ask him 
any more questions." 

The teller of Bible stories will find that if he keeps 
very closely to the Bible endings, his efforts will be 
crowned with success. Often it is necessary to mod- 
ernize the wording, but the thought expressed should 
be that of the Hebrew story-tellers expressed in terms 
that the child can understand. To improve upon the 
dramatic beauty of style of these old-time narrators is 
something we of to-day cannot hope to accomplish. 
Therefore let the child have as nearly as possible the 
Bible version in beginnings, climaxes, and endings 
which are without a parallel in literary artistry. 

Summary. — Summing up, the ending should con- 
sist in removing the characters from the scene after 
the climax lias been reached, in a sentence of recapitu- 
lation, or with the climax itself if the action logically 
terminates there, using only what is necessary to round 
out the tale and make it seem complete. It is a mis- 
take to pad an oral story anywhere, but to pad the end- 
ing is fatal to the future success of the narrator with 
that same group of hearers, because by lengthening it 
unnecessarily he mars their pleasure in it. A child 
likes to let his imagination play freely about a tale he 
has just heard, and for the narrator to go rambling 
on to no purpose makes that flight of fancy impossible 
for him. The ideal way is to allow him a few minutes 
of silence, five if possible, after the completion of each 



124 STORY TELLING 

story, to live again in its scenes and touch hands with 
its characters. But where this is not possible, where a 
discussion must follow the story and the time for it is 
limited, at least make a short pause, so that he may 
realize the story is finished, but do not continue talk- 
ing when he feels that you have finished and wonders 
why you do not stop. 

The same sort of study of endings of classic stories 
should be made that is made of beginnings and 
climaxes, keeping the above stated principles in mind. 
And later these principles and the result of the ob- 
servation should be applied to original work. Thus 
the story-teller grows into a power that in the begin- 
ning he believed he could never acquire and becomes 
deservedly a member of that splendid company, many 
of which are nameless in history, but who shaped 
tribal ideals and molded nations. 

Thought Questions 

i. Why is ability to use variety of beginnings neces- 
sary to the story-teller? 

2. What are the principles involved in beginnings? 

3. Of what advantage is practice in writing begin- 
nings, climaxes, and endings? 

4. What is the principle involved in making the 
climax effective to the child? 

5. What are the principles involved in ending a 
story ? 

Assignment 

Prepare for telling to Primary pupils the story of 
Herod's malicious intent toward the child Jesus. 
Matthew 2. 



BEGINNING, CLIMAX, AND END 125 

Write three different beginnings for the story. 
Write three different climaxes. 
Write three different endings. 
Prepare in the same way for Beginners the story of 
Jesus feeding the multitude. John 6. 1-13. 



CHAPTER IX 

PRACTICE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A 
SPECIFIC TRUTH 

Emphasizing truth by amplification. — Sometimes 
it is necessary to illuminate the specific characteristic 
or truth that is the motive of the story, to emphasize 
it even more forcibly than it is emphasized in the writ- 
ten narrative, in order that it may be more completely 
grasped by the child. This is especially so in dealing 
with little people whose habits of action we wish to 
reconstruct, as, for instance, the untruthful child, the 
selfish, cruel, or lazy child, the boy or girl who is 
slovenly, inattentive, or habitually impolite. It is pos- 
sible to tell a story and tell it so entertainingly that chil- 
dren will be held by it without catching its lesson or 
purpose if to the narrator herself that lesson does not 
stand out as the salient feature of the tale. And some- 
times even when she appreciates fully its aim and 
meaning, because she assumes that the children under- 
stand more than they do, they do not realize its under- 
lying truth. Therefore ability to stress that truth so 
forcibly that it stays with the child long after he has 
left the teller, and at the same time to do it so artis- 
tically that there is no sense of being preached to, is 
one of the fundamentals of all story-telling whose aim 
is ethical and constructive. The narrator must know 
how to bring out the high lights of a story with a few 

126 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TRUTH 127 

skillful strokes as the painter brings out those of his 
picture, being never the preacher to the boy or girl 
but always the magic conductor who leads him into 
fascinating regions. 

Emphasizing by repetition. — Repetition is one of 
the best devices for making emphatic the message we 
wish the child to receive. 

In the old story of "The Boy Who Cried 'Wolf/ " 
which is one of the best tales for giving a realization 
of the inevitable suffering that comes of untruthful- 
ness, some elaboration of the part in which the men re- 
fuse to go to aid of the lad who had deceived them 
twice will make it apparent why the boy had to suffer. 
The original tale gives the bare facts : 

Then one day the wolf did come. "Help! Help!" 
the boy cried, "A wolf ! A wolf !" 

But the men would not go. 

"He is at his tricks again," they said. 

The wolf ran in among the flock and killed many 
of the sheep. 

A version that stresses the fact that misfortune 
came to the boy because of having deceived before 
would read something like this : 

Then one day the wolf did come. 

"Help! Help!" the boy cried. "The wolf! The 
wolf!" 

Over in the field beyond the woodchoppers heard 
him, but they did not even stop to listen. 

"He is at his tricks again," said one of them. 

"Yes, he has fooled us twice," said another. "We 
will not let him do it again." 



128 STORY TELLING 

He called and called, "Help! Help! The wolf! 
The wolf !" 

But the men went right on chopping wood. 

"Let him shout as much as he pleases," they said. 
"We will not go again." 

And they did not go. 

The wolf ran in among the flock and killed many 
of the sheep. 

With the lesson emphasized in this manner during 
the unrolling of the plot the child understands what 
may come of untruthfulness, and it is not necessary to 
moralize in concluding the tale and say, "And that 
shows what happens to boys and girls who do not tell 
the truth." Occasionally a closing sentence of this 
kind is permissible. Children enjoy it as the finale of 
some humorous tales, but it is not so with serious ones. 
They do not care what the story-teller thinks. They 
are interested only in knowing what happens, and a 
little repetition or elaboration as the plot thread unrolls 
will often bring an emotional awakening that the most 
carefully worded maxims cannot do. 

In the story of manna sent to the children of Israel 
the lesson to be left with the child is of God's care of 
them. Here is a good example of what is meant by 
emphasis by amplification : 

Moses heard the words of God, and then he called 
the Israelites together that he might tell them what 
he had said. 

"Have no fear," he spoke, "for at evening ye shall 
know that God is taking care of you. And in the morn- 
ing ye shall see what great things Jehovah hath done." 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TRUTH 129 

The people watched and waited. When evening 
came they knew that what Moses had said was true, 
for they saw large flocks of birds called quail. Quail 
are good for food when they are cooked. The Israel- 
ites caught as many as they thought they should need, 
prepared them for eating, and had all the food they 
wanted that night. 

In the morning dew that was bright and shining lay 
around their tents. When the sun came out it went 
away, and after it was gone small, round things were 
seen upon the ground. They were white and looked 
like tiny pieces of bread. 

Moses said to them, "Behold, it is the bread which 
Jehovah hath given you to eat. Gather ye of it as 
much as ye want." 

At first they could not believe it was bread, for never 
before had anyone heard of bread falling from the sky. 
But when they tasted some of the tiny bits they found 
them sweet as honey and very good to eat. 

They called them manna. And as they ate they 
thanked God with all their hearts. 

Morning after morning they found the manna upon 
the ground, and gathered it for their food. They were 
not hungry any more, and they were not afraid. They 
knew God was taking care of them. 

In the story of the contributions for the tabernacle, 
Exodus 35, the lesson of the willingness of the donors 
can be stressed by repetition. 

The words of Moses made all of them willing- 
hearted, and they brought the most precious things 
they had that they might help in building the house of 



130 STORY TELLING 

God. The girls and women gave their bracelets, ear- 
rings, and jewels of gold. Every man that had blue, 
purple, or scarlet cloth gave it as part of his share. 
They brought goat's hair, ram's skins dyed red, acacia 
wood, and silver and brass. They gave onyx stones, 
spice, and oil and sweet perfume. Nobody had thought 
they could gather together so many beautiful things. 
Emphasis by contrast. — In the "Story of the Baby 
Jesus" the salient truth is joyful thanks for God's best 
gift, and the high light of the tale is the singing of the 
angels, because this sounds the note of gratitude and 
jubilation. As given in the book of Luke the tale is 
exquisite and perfect, and needs no touch to illuminate 
it for the older children pr for the adult. But it has 
been my experience that the tiny child of average in- 
telligence and sensitiveness does not grasp the under- 
lying thought unless this portion is emphasized and 
amplified. He understands the Babe in the manger 
and the mother because mothers and babies are a part 
of his own experience. But his idea of the celestial 
singers is vague and confused unless the story-teller 
introduces them in terms he understands. This does 
not mean to describe the angels, to attribute to them 
yellow hair or blue eyes or to picture what should be 
left to the free play of the fancy. It means to give an 
idea of the dazzling brightness and splendor the shep- 
herds glimpsed on the Nativity night, and to stress the 
music of the heavenly choir so that the child hears it 
as he hears many another sound that is never voiced 
in words. As given by one narrator the description of 
the singing of the angels is as follows: "And all at 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TRUTH 131 

once the sky was filled with angels, singing. And this 
was their song: 
"Glory to God in the highest, 
And on earth peace among men in whom he is well 
pleased. 

"Then the song ended, and the light faded, and the 
shepherds were left alone in the quiet and the dark- 
ness. They were left alone, excited and wondering 
over the good news the angel had brought." 

Stressing the brightness and splendor of the singing 
hosts that was followed by all the night blackness and 
stillness makes the contrast strong to the child and 
heightens the note of joy for him, and he begins to 
comprehend the gladness of the shepherds as they hur- 
ried to Bethlehem. To the child who is still in the 
rhythmical period repetition of bits of song and dia- 
logue adds intensely to his interest in and understand- 
ing of the story, and this repetition means as much 
in the Bible tales as it means in folk tales like "Jack 
and the Bean-stalk" and "Nimmy Nimmy Not." The 
story-teller should bear in mind, when he uses repeti- 
tion in Bible narratives, that the written version of any 
great tale is for reading, and that to recast it for that 
purpose would be license. But for telling, in order 
to bring vivid pictures and keen enjoyment to the 
hearer, the high lights must often be illuminated, and 
whenever he employs amplification and repetition for 
this purpose, whenever he introduces only what is 
implied, he is acting within his province as an artist. 
The great narrators of long ago did this constantly, 
and those remarkable but unsung artists, the strolling 



132 STORY TELLING 

story-tellers of Sicily and Calabria, are doing it to this 
day. As a child I had heard from a teacher at school 
the account of the boy Garibaldi running away to be- 
come a sailor. As a woman I heard the same plot on 
a street corner of Mongerbino from the lips of old 
Gulielmo Bondi as he entertained the street boys one 
afternoon when it was too hot to work and they 
crowded in the shadow of a shopdoor seeking shelter 
from the sirocco. But it was not the same story, al- 
though the Sicilian did not interpolate a single unwar- 
ranted incident into the life tale of the patriot. He 
used the very ones used by the teacher who told the 
story as she found it in a book. But he did illuminate 
the high lights, and by doing this he made the romance 
as vivid to the boys who heard it as if they themselves 
had lived through some of the experiences. 

In the story of the coming of the Magi amplification 
will aid the teacher in impressing upon the child the 
truth that love is the best gift, and the quality of the 
love that lay back of the visit of the Wise Men of the 
East. 

The Wise Men had traveled miles and miles across 
the sands on their camels just to give these presents to 
the little Lord Jesus. They had forded rivers that 
were so swift and deep the camels had to swim across, 
and sometimes it had seemed they must surely be 
drowned. They had climbed mountains where the 
roads were steep and rough, and they had risked 
danger of every kind that they might lay their gifts 
before him. For the Lord Jesus was not a common 
baby. He had come to be the Prince of Peace and to 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TRUTH 133 

make people happier and better. He had come to save 
the world. 

Thus the underlying truth of every story one tells 
can be brought home to the child. Thus, through 
skillful amplification and repetition by the narrator he 
will come into a realization of its meaning and mes- 
sage that he might not gain without it. 

Whoever tells stories of the Christ-Child will gain 
much inspiration for her work by a careful study of 
Ben Hur. In this book a man with a great soul has 
told reverently and vividly of the shepherds on the 
hills, the Babe in the manger, and the coming of the 
Wise Men, and to read it is to see with clearer eyes 
than one has seen before the Bethlehem hills and the 
glory that came upon them on the Nativity night. In 
fact, wherever artists have recounted the old stories 
of the east, the teller of Bible narratives should go for 
help in her work, for by reading or hearing the ac- 
count of men who have sensed completely their mean- 
ing and beauty is to gain a deeper understanding of the 
most wonderful of all tales, and through that under- 
standing to give more to the child. Therefore the 
works of Lew Wallace, Henry van Dyke, John of 
Hildesheim, Selma Lagerlof, and those other masters 
who have written of days and deeds in Palestine 
should be a part of the equipment of every one who 
aspires to acquaint children with the oldest and best 
of books. 

Thought Questions 

1. In what three ways may the specific truth of a 
story be stressed or emphasized? 



134 STORY TELLING 

2. Illustrate with some story how the emphasis can 
be made by repetition; by amplification; by contrast. 

Assignment 

Emphasize the truth involved in each of the fol- 
lowing stories : 

The Duty of Obedience, Genesis 2. 16-25 ; 3. 1-24. 

Love Shown by Kindness, Luke 10. 30-35. 

Obedience to the Will of God, Joshua 1. 1-6; 3. 4, 
5. 10-12. 



CHAPTER X 
THE CHILD'S USE OF STORIES 

Forms of expression. — The child's spontaneous ex- 
pression of a story holds almost as much delight for 
him as the first hearing held, because thereby he re- 
experiences the thrills and wonderment its scenes 
awakened. And until the teacher follows each narra- 
tive with a period in which such free expression can 
be made she does not realize the power of the spoken 
tale as an awakener of moods and molder of ideals. 

This expression may be of various forms, such as 
playing the story, singing, drawing, cutting and model- 
ing it, or acting it in pantomime, and with children of 
artistic temperament and keen intelligence is often 
wholly spontaneous. There is no such thing as hear- 
ing a tale without some reaction toward it, but a ma- 
jority of children need leadership before they will 
express that reaction. Under sympathetic leadership, 
however, the emotions the scenes have aroused will be 
manifested, and this manifestation is of utmost value 
to the child, for each additional experience with the 
tale fixes the basic truths more deeply. Moreover, as 
Sara Cone Bryant says, the child's spontaneous expres- 
sion of a story helps to set free his natural creative 
impulses, and in this field alone the art of the narrator 
has a great mission to perform. Too many people are 

135 



136 STORY TELLING 

like "The Voiceless Singers" of Oliver Wendell 
Holmes, who "die with all their music in them." And 
when one looks over the history of artistic attainment 
and notes that the lands in which the fine arts have 
flowered most splendidly are those where, for cen- 
turies, story-telling has had an honored place, it is not 
illogical to think that with a more serious and general 
use of stories among children there may be fewer 
voiceless folk in the future. 

Pantomime and singing. — Very little children de- 
light in impersonating some of the characters in pan- 
tomime. This is the first step toward dramatization, 
and dramatization, properly guided and controlled, is 
as valuable in the Sunday school as in the day school. 
Through playing a story the child lives to the utter- 
most the experiences of that story, and therefore the 
lessons it teaches are stamped upon his memory in an 
unforgettable way. Some little folk are remarkably 
expressive and resourceful when it comes to playing 
the story, and will portray its happenings in a swift, 
unbroken sequence without suggestion from the teacher 
or leader, capably and joyfully creating each part. 
Others, as some one has said, are limited by nature. 
Yet these slow, inexpressive little people derive just as 
much joy and benefit from dramatization as their more 
facile and temperamental companions, provided they 
are under the leadership of one who, by skillful direc- 
tion, can awaken their dormant activities and free 
them from the chains of diffidence. For them pan- 
tomime dramatization is an easy, almost spontaneous 
fprm of expression, because it makes possible the play 



THE CHILD'S USE OF STORIES 137 

experience of the story without the embarrassment that 
comes of not knowing what to say. In the Beginners' 
Department it is advisable to attempt only pantomime 
dramatization, and at first but one of the scenes or 
incidents of the tale. And this should be the one of the 
children's choice, the one that to them stands out as 
the salient feature of the story. I recall a group of 
beginners who, after hearing about David the Shep- 
herd, took keen delight in a march of a shepherd and 
sheep. Then the teacher suggested that it would be 
nice to have a song about David to sing as they 
marched, and out of many suggestions from the class 
and the guiding mind of the teacher behind the sug- 
gestion, of which, however, the children were unaware, 
a little song was "made up" that ran like this : 

David was a shepherd boy, 
David was a shepherd boy, 
David was a shepherd boy, 
And he loved his sheep. 



Egg J. ^^^^^ pg= ^^^^ ^ 



Da - vid was a shepherd boy, Da - vid was a shepherd boy, 



■&-*- 



S : 



tt 



Da - vid was a shep-herd boy, And he loved his sheep. 

In the pastures green and sweet, (repeat) 
David watched them feed. 



138 STORY TELLING 

Came a lion fierce and wild, (repeat) 

To the tender sheep. 

David drove the beast away, (repeat) 

Shepherd good was he. 

The number of stanzas may be increased to tell the 
complete story of David, for children love the repeti- 
tion of line and rhythm. An attempt at rhyme is un- 
necessary, even unwise, for the songs little people have 
a hand in creating must be marked by many crudities, 
and to undertake to polish them to anything like the 
standard of an adult production is to rob them of life 
and of joy for the child. The tiny boy or girl is like the 
primitive Indian or Negro on the Southern plantation 
of ante-bellum days, and his very own songs react his 
thoughts and feelings. They must be his form of 
expression instead of highly finished productions that 
are fitted down to him. It is imperative that the 
teacher's attitude toward these crude, spontaneous 
forms of expression be one of sympathetic understand- 
ing, that she shall not expect too much and by at- 
tempts at pruning and polishing kill enthusiasm and 
creative joy. And I know of no better way in which 
she may obtain an understanding of about what to ex- 
pect of very young children in a creative way than to 
study some of the Indian tribal songs and religious 
hymns of the Negroes, because the people among whom 
these formalized were a child people. The publications 
of the American Folklore Society are rich in material 
from both races, and I recommend especially the songs 



THE CHILD'S USE OF STORIES 139 

of the Fisk Jubilee Singers, which may be obtained in 
any of the larger public libraries. 

It is sometimes advisable for the teacher to begin 
the little song, work out the first stanza, for instance. 
Any teacher can do this, because a single line used in 
repetition will comprise a stanza, and somewhere 
among her stock of melodies is one to which she can 
fit the words. The imitative instinct of the children 
will cause them to suggest other lines, and so as a class 
production, the stanzas grow and the story is told. 
And it is well to remember that the exterior crudity 
that marks the production is attended on the part of 
the child with inner perceptions of extreme delicacy 
and fineness. And because of these perceptions the 
boy or girl who has worked out in his own unfinished 
way a song play of David the Shepherd is better fitted 
to understand the Good Shepherd and his care than 
one who has had no such play. 

Whether in pantomime or oral, dramatization should 
be the child's expression. Therefore the teacher 
should not work out the story in her own way and tell 
him what to do. But suggestions and leadership are 
necessary, for without them children who are shy or 
are limited in creative impulse will give little or no 
response to this valuable form of expression. Suppose 
the story has been told of Mephibosheth and David. 
After the children have talked of the good king and 
the lame boy the teacher says, "Suppose we play the 
story? Who wants to be little Mephibosheth?" 

Immediately somebody will volunteer because every 
child knows how to impersonate a lame child. 



140 STORY TELLING 

"Who will be the nurse ?" 

(The children will make the discovery that prob- 
ably the teacher will have to be the nurse because none 
of them are large enough to carry Mephibosheth.) 

"Who wants to be King David? The servant? 
Mephibosheth, what are you going to do ?" 

The child himself will suggest and the other chil- 
dren will suggest actions in keeping with the part. By 
questioning, draw them out as to what should be the 
action of the various characters, the children demon- 
strating the same, and after a little impersonation of 
this kind they will put the story together and play it 
with a surprising degree of spontaneity. Although the 
teacher's suggestions have made it possible, it will still 
be their portrayal, and they will enter into it with an 
abandon that will not be possible if they are told what 
to do and where to do it. 

Drawing, Coloring, and Paper Cutting. — Almost 
every worker with little children knows the value of 
drawing the story by the child, of coloring pictures 
that illustrate it, and of cutting freehand silhouette 
outlines of its personages and objects. Every one of 
these forms of expression requires the visualizing of 
each image portrayed, and the cutting and freehand 
drawing are especially valuable in developing the 
power of conceiving and holding the concrete image 
of the idea given, and therefore tend directly to in- 
crease creative ability. 

Under no condition, however, should the teacher 
look upon handiwork as purely occupational, or as 
something to keep the children out of mischief. Draw- 



THE CHILD'S USE OF STORIES 141 

ing, coloring, and paper cutting are highly valuable 
when they are an expression by the child of some idea 
the story has awakened in him. In that event they are 
constructive, upbuilding forces. But when the teacher 
regards them as something to keep the children quiet 
they become what one worker calls ''busy idleness" 
and are harmful in their effect because they get the 
children into the habit of doing something to no pur- 
pose. The same punctilious care on the part of the 
teacher that makes possible a spontaneous piece of 
dramatization, the same constructive suggestion and 
questioning must be the foundation upon which all 
handwork in the church school is built. Otherwise it 
should not be employed. 

Modeling. — Where space is limited it is not always 
possible to use the sand table. But there is no class- 
room so small as to prohibit the use of antiseptic mod- 
eling clay such as is prepared for children by the Kin- 
dergarten supply houses. Clay modeling gives the 
child even more joy than sand modeling, because ob- 
jects made of clay may be moved about and kept as 
long as desired, while the sandhouse or sheep fold falls 
into nothingness if the table is jarred. It is surprising 
how deftly even the smallest children learn to work 
with clay, and how clearly they will express their ideas 
through this medium. To my notion it is the most 
satisfactory form of hand work to use in connection 
with the story. Cutting and drawing require more 
skill than modeling, and the child can tell with clay 
what he cannot say with scissors and pencil. 

Here also questioning and suggestion should call 



142 STORY TELLING 

into play the child's creative impulses and make him 
feel that he wants to express something. Do not say, 
"Now go to the table and see what you can make." 
Say instead, "Who can make the hills where David 
pastured the sheep and the streams where they drank ?" 
Such questioning creates a definite picture in the mind 
and the modeling will be an expression of that picture. 

Retelling the story. — Another specific use of the 
story is retelling it by the child, by a group of children, 
or by the children aided by the teacher, she to begin 
unwinding the plot thread and they to carry it on to 
completion. In this way no one child monopolizes the 
tale, as frequently happens when no effort is made to 
make the retelling a piece of class work. It gives the 
shy child an equal chance with the forward one, and, 
moreover, beginning the story by the teacher removes 
the difficulty so often experienced by the child who 
does not know what to say first. Beginning a tale, even 
for an adult, is more difficult than unwinding the plot 
thread once the characters are introduced, and this 
explains why it happens that so often children who 
are thoroughly familiar with a story sit unresponsive 
to the question, "Who will tell it to me ?" But with the 
characters in action they experience no difficulty in 
telling what they do next. 

Retelling the tale is the most difficult of the several 
forms of story expression for the child, because it in- 
volves a complicated thought process, visualizing of 
scenes and word control at the same time. It should 
follow rather than precede the simpler forms of ex- 
pression, such as pantomime dramatization, modeling, 



THE CHILD'S USE OF STORIES 143 

and singing the story. The teacher of beginners will 
find occasion to use it much less frequently than the 
other forms, perhaps not at all, unless she has in her 
group one or more gifted children who want to tell 
the story. The worker in the Primary Department 
will find more occasion to use it, but it is not until the 
children reach the junior age that the class as a whole 
will enjoy this form of expression. 

Thus, through hearing a story, playing, singing, 
drawing, cutting, coloring or modeling it, the incidents 
that make its plot become a part of the child's own 
experience, its lessons laws that function in his code 
of action. Because of story experiences he learns to 
think more clearly, to feel more deeply, to live more 
richly and completely. In a word, he will be a better 
child to-day and a better man to-morrow than he can 
be without these experiences, and he will give to a suc- 
ceeding generation according to the measure in which 
he has received. The germination process of the seed 
is hidden under the ground and the expanding emo- 
tional nature is not revealed to the eye. But while the 
boy listens, while he works out the story in any of 
the ways dear to childhood, he is learning and grow- 
ing, and the fruit of that growth will be manifested 
some day in constructive action and beneficent living, 
even though she who sowed the seed may never see 
the rare coloring or inhale the fragrance of the flower. 

Thought Questions 

1. What is the value of the child's expression of a 
story ? 



144 STORY TELLING 

2. Why should the pantomime form of dramatiza- 
tion precede the oral form? 

3. What danger lies in drawing, coloring, and paper 
cutting in the Sunday school? How may this danger 
be eliminated and these forms of handwork be made 
valuable ? 

4. Why is it advisable for the teacher to begin the 
story when the children are to retell it? 

Assignment 

Prepare for telling the story of the Baby Moses. 
Exodus 2. 1-10. 

Write questions and suggestions that will lead chil- 
dren to play it. 

Write suggestions to the children for a song about 
the basket in the rushes. 

Write suggestions that will lead the children to try 
to draw, cut or model the basket, the river bank, and 
the baby's home to which the mother took him. 



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